


I'm on cloud nine (up like zero gravity)

by KryptidWriter



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bisexual Disaster Luz Noceda, Character Study, Denial of Feelings, Drama, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I'm the number one Augustus fan, Insecure Luz Noceda, Luz (The Owl House) has ADHD, Luz Noceda Needs a Hug, Luz Noceda has no idea what she's doing, M/M, POV Third Person, Please utilize them, There's something called boundaries boscha, YouTuber Luz Noceda, Youtuber AU, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 36,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26092204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KryptidWriter/pseuds/KryptidWriter
Summary: Luz Noceda is a small youtuber and streamer celebrating hitting fifty-thousand subscribers.Cosmic-Hecate is her number one fan.OrAmity is gay for Luz (but what else is new).(Now with art!)
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Boscha/Willow Park, Eda Clawthorne/Camilia Noceda
Comments: 374
Kudos: 1915
Collections: I’m on cloud nine (up like zero gravity)





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> I was not expecting the outpour of love and support from my last fanfictions! I truly appreciate your comments. Keep in mind, everyone is a tad older. Luz and Amity both being seventeen. 
> 
> Won't update regularly, unfortunately. But I'll try to update as much as I can. 
> 
> Title is from "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!" English cover by Tunnelberg.
> 
> Enjoy!

Her phone vibrated on her side nightstand. Luz groaned and rolled over. For a moment, she lays still. Taking in the comforting warmth and lingering laundry detergent- she should thank her mother, really- before allowing her eyes to flutter open. 

She is met with early morning darkness, dense dark blues peeked through her closed window blinds. Her bedroom isn't very spacious, but it's rather ornamented- two matching beanbags, a desk adorned with monitors and a computer, collectable plushies and several television and movie posters covered the light turquoise walls. 

Luz stretches her arm and grabs her phone. She squints at the brightness. She swipes her thumb across the screen. A message is displayed. 

Time for school, ya dingus

With a huff, she pushes herself from beneath her weighted comforter. She shuffles across the smooth hardwood flooring to the bedroom door, and laces her hands above her head for a stretch. 

The hallway is lined with framed photographs of relatives and family friends. One framed is a crudely drawn picture made by a seven-year-old Luz depicting two stick figures holding hands in a flower field. 'Family' is written in bold. 

Luz smiled. She'd never forget the gleeful smile her mother had given her. 

She sheds herself of her nightwear- otter themed. And no, she did not care if it was childish- and discards them in the hamper besides the door. She flicks on the light, and glances at her reflection. Her hair is a mess, locks sticking in various directions and curling. Her eyes are puffy and red. She grimaced. 

She never understood how people could wake up and still look flawless. 

Opening the medicine cabinet, Luz takes her toothbrush and begins to brush her teeth, mentally listing off several things she must accomplish today. One: finish the commission user Simpywarlock requested of her. Two: Finish editing the video that's been opened on her desktop for days. Three: hold a celebratory livestream for reaching fifty-thousand subscribers. 

She smiled at that thought. 

Luz had started her channel little over a year ago, and she was shocked at the amount of people who enjoyed her videos. The videos ranged from gameplay and commentary to critiquing her favorite novels or television shows. Originally, she posted out of her own enjoyment, as it was a vassal to share her seemingly endless knowledge of video-games and books to anyone who may have listened. 

Many people listened. 

Her channel, cleverly named "TheLuzara". Had surpassed thousands of views monthly. Her most popular video- surpassing six hundred thousand views- being titled "Everytime I mine a block, a mob spawns" which was nothing short of chaos. Though Inevitably, hateful and aggressive comments wormed its way into her comment section and inbox. The comments, though hurtful, never damaged her spirit and actively inspired her to continue her possible career. 

She wondered how far she could go. How much subscribers she could obtain. She loved talking to them. They understood her. 

Minty froth leaked from the corners of her mouth and dropped onto the porcelain sink. She stopped brushing and spat out the paste. Her gums burned slightly. How long had she been brushing?

She rinsed her mouth and opened the shower curtain, twisting the knob and testing the temperature. She takes a step inside, basking in the warmth and pressure. She felt like she had forgotten something. But she disregarded the feeling.

Hopefully school wouldn't beat her down today. 

…

The smell of fresh breakfast lingered through the house, filling the air with a flavourful scent. It's not often that her mother prepares breakfast on weekdays- considering her schedule requires her to arrive at the hospital around five thirty, long before she wakes for school in the morning- so it's a pleasant surprise when she wakes up to pancakes and sometimes Pan Dulce. 

Though walking through her living room, she was greeted with something different.

Luz should have been surprised at the lump of wrinkled blankets and limbs curled on the couch. She jumped initially, passing through her living room and noticing she and her mother weren't the only presence in the house, but after realizing the potential circumstances, all she could do was shake her head. 

"Morning, Eda."

Eda stirred in her sleep, shifting her head from right to left. Tired eyes blinked open, then centered on the latina, dressed in shorts and her favorite cat hoodie. 

"Mmm," She grunted, but it sounded more like a grouse. She turned her head away from Luz again. 

"How'd you get in here?"

"Door was locked," A pause, then. "I sorta snuck through the back window."

Totally not suspicious at all. "Do you want some breakfast? My mami is cooking."

She raised her thumb up weakly. 

She leaves the women- her step-mother? She never considered the titles. 

…

"Buenos Dias, mom." she greets, walking towards the refrigerator and grabbing a chilled bottle of water. Her mother was near the counter, filling a rice cooker with water and preparing enough rice for now and passing noon, when her shift ended. 

A Cairn Terrier was at her feet, bouncing and running in circles. She isn't surprised- Eda would never leave without her dog, King. Which got them into some regrettable though entertaining shenanigans. 

"Good morning, sweetheart," She responded, a soft smile crossing her features. She held a plate out. "I've made chocolate pancakes- your favorite."

Her eyes brighten and she quickly grabs the plate, giving a small 'thank you' before sitting at the dining table. She promptly pierced the top layer, chocolate melting on her spoon. When she takes her first bite, she hums in satisfaction as the taste washes over her tongue. 

"You are-" she pauses to swallow. "My favorite person, thank you." she praises before taking another mouthful of pancake. 

A chuckle sounds from her mother. Beams of morning sunlight begins to peek through the windows, illuminating the kitchen in a warm golden hue. King stops yapping, instead laying down beneath the table with a pout. 

"Are you ready for school? Do you have everything?" Her mom asks, placing the used dishes into soapy water. 

"Yeah, I think so." 

"...Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Did you take your medication?"

Oh. That's what she was forgetting. And apparently, her face shows this. 

"Uh… "

Her mother sighed. "Mija, you have to take your medicine. It'll help you focus better in class."

"It's not like I did it on purpose," she argues. "I just forget sometimes." 

"But this is the fourth time this week," Her mother pats her shoulder. "We just… need to find a way to help you remember. You should set a reminder on your phone." 

"I will, mami." Luz says, finishing her food and setting the plate into the sink. 

"Good, now go on, we have to get you to school." 

She sprints up the staircase, entering her bedroom and grabbing a small orange pill container. She dry swallows the pill before heading back down, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. 

Eda has fallen back asleep, seemingly forgetting about her breakfast. Her mother muttered something under her breath that she couldn't quite make out. She gives a quick "bye" to King and they head out the door. 

…

She checks her phone throughout the course to school, responding to fan questions and tweeting her thoughts about a rumored Azura film being produced. Her twitter page, having over ten thousand followers, was always flooded with tweets. Sometimes, she just stalks her comment section, which is quite humorous sometimes. Especially when she witnessed a fifty reply thread about whether Azura and Hecate were canon or not. 

Her last tweet, posted sixteen hours ago, reads "just hit 50k subscribers!!! I'm gonna hold a livestream to celebrate". 

Many congratulated her on her achievement, some asking about when the livestream would start (7.00p.m. she made sure to write that down), others sending reactionary pictures. 

"I see you've passed fifty thousand followers! I'm proud of you, mija." her mother says, glancing from the road to her daughter. 

Luz smiled sheepishly. "Aw, thanks mom." 

"Are you going to celebrate?"

"Yep, I'm holding a livestream tonight. I'm probably gonna play some games and do a Q&A." Luz responded, pocketing her phone when they reached the entrance of her school. 

Luz wrestled with her seat, unlocking it and exiting the car with her belongings. 

"You'll wake home after-school, right?" her mother asked. 

"Yeah, but I might stop by the store so I'll be late."

"Alright, nos vemos después de la escuela, mija." 

"Nos vemos mas tarde."

And with that, she watches as the car reverses out the parking lot and onto the street before disappearing around the corner. 

Clusters of students made their way into the building, some laughing and joking, others gossiping and complaining. Several students huddled outside the entrance, eyes glued to their smartphones or just enjoying the few moments they have left before school starts. 

Luz sighs. She takes out her earbuds and takes her phone, connecting the wire and clicking on her playlist. Music blasted in her ears- anime openings, of course. 

Despite having over fifty-thousand subscribers, people don't recognize her in the general public- which she is thankful for, the added attention outside of social media would be a hassle to handle- even her fellow peers don't acknowledge her following, it's largely ignored in favor of bullying her. 

Inside the school, she places her belongings inside her locker, which is decked out in colorful stickers and crumbled paper lined the flooring. Someone passing by tugs at her hood, making her stumble. They chuckle obnoxiously and Luz frowns. Her phone then buzzed. She swiped her thumb across the screen, it's a message from a fan. 

"I love your channel so much!!! ur so funny I love ur videos!!" The message is followed by several heart emoticons. Normally, Luz doesn't respond to many direct messages from fans. She replies to comments of her video and posts, but never someone who actually messaged her privately. 

Though, something compelled her to respond. Maybe it's because of the splitting grin on her face. Things like this never failed to make her smile. 

She starts typing. 

'I'm glad you enjoy my content! Make sure to tune in to my livestream tonight!'

Text bubbles appear, singling the messenger is typing a response. 

'OMG! I didn't expect u to reply!! I will be watching tonight. congrats on 50k!!!'

Luz smiles, clicking and scrolling through the messengers page. It's your standard twitter page, customized to suit the person's liking (which was pastel. Lots of pastel colors). The messenger followed her and retweeted a decent amount of posts from her. It's name: cosmic-hecate02. Their profile picture was of said character. 

She composes a reply. 'Thank you :)'.

She grabs her textbook and pencil pouch, closing and locking the door. She shoves her phone inside her back pocket and makes her way to first period class. She looked forward to the livestream and being surrounded by viewers who liked her. She hoped today would go by smoothly, but something tells her it's not going to happen that way.


	2. LUZ NOCEDA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Thursday night. Luz begins her livestream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 200 kudos. Thanks everyone! 
> 
> Don't have much to say for this chapter, besides we get introduced to some familiar faces.

The bright afternoon sun beamed down her back, shoulders and chest, her large backpack doing no favors in cooling her down. Temperature-wise, it isn't very hot- no more than seventy five degrees Fahrenheit- but she might as well be an oven. Her body was never very good at handling warm temperatures. Even when she was younger, she'd always find herself under the shade of the large maple tree behind her home while she sketched. 

She's thankful her home is only a few blocks away, because doing this everyday would be dreadful. 

Around the corner sits the community library, and Luz unconsciously quickens her pace. Students gathered regularly to converse and study within the library, sometimes goofing off and causing a distraction to others. It was a local hotspot for teenagers, and she didn't want to be the target of any malicious intent.

A few yards down, a small convenient store is located, wedged between two other shops. Inside the store Luz is instantly welcomed by name, the cashier giving a jubilant "hello" from behind the counter. During the school year, she regularly visited the shoppe for a snack and the occasional drink. Her purchase is always the same: Two chocolate granola bars. Maybe a bottle of punch if she's in the mood. 

She grabs her items quickly- not wanting to waste any unnecessary time, she still has homework and chores before the livestream- so she does a circle around the store. Snaking between the aisles, she grabs her granola bars and a fruit punch from the refrigerators. 

The cashier rings up the order, placing them inside a plastic baggie. She hands him a five-dollar bill and they depart- "See you next time!"- Luz ups her pace as she walks out of the store's entrance, excusing herself between a few people. 

She isn't far from her house; only a few houses down. She takes the moment to observe her surroundings. The heavily wooded forest behind the neighborhood looked somewhat eerie, beams of light shining through the treetops, illuminating the forest wilderness. She watched as a small bird landed near the sidewalk, pecking at some old bits of food left. 

The bird was dark brown. Light browns, grey and whites coated it's feathers in a brilliant pattern. It's movements were sharp, quickly turning its head in mindless ways. It hopped closer to its food. Birds don't walk, they hop. Learn something new everyday.

Luz liftes her head, finding herself actually passing her home and nearing the corner. She blinked. 'Need to focus more.' she thought. 

The bird was pretty, in her defense. 

…

The house is quiet now that her mother and step-mother had left for work. She couldn't say she was used to it- the silence brought upon the house was deafening. The only sounds to fill the air are the slight creak of the floorboards as Luz walked. 

She places her backpack on the chair besides the coffee table and ungracefully falls onto the couch, hands drumming her abdomen. She checks her phone. The time displayed is three fifty two. Her mother wouldn't be home until five thirty, her step-mother even later. 

She wouldn't admit that it was slightly lonely. 

She slowly keeps herself busy until seven o'clock with chores- wiping tables, sweeping floors, washing dishes, cleaning her room- in an attempt to minimize as much as possible so she doesn't waste away with boredom. This strategy to distract herself proved partially successful, eventually weeding out an hour until the stream. 

She cracks open her fruit punch, listening to the brief hiss of compression escaping the can. She brings the can to her lips as she crosses the living room, drinking the sugary drink and savouring the taste. She grabs the remote and turns on the television, flicking through the channels and coming across the news station. She quickly switches the channel. 

She wasn't sure why she turned the television on in the first place; background noise, she presumes. 

She grabs her phone, swiping and checking her twitter and channel for any notifications. She expressed her thoughts about the livestream and upcoming fantasy movies being produced. She liked and commented on company posts about said movies, as well as news regarding the entertainment industry. 

She types out "Almost 7!" before sending the tweet and closing the app. 

Deciding that she is that bored, Luz taps open the messaging app. The list is short, displaying only five individual message histories, two of which is her mother's. It's a few messages from classmates, but the last delivered messages range from weeks to months. All seen by the occupants but never receiving a response. 

The amount of people she interacts with on a daily basis is somewhat sad, highlighting just how little others seemingly want to converse and interact with her outside a school environment. She closes the app, sullen. She sighs. 

After a few minutes of mindlessly watching the television (which was currently playing a brightly colored cartoon about a cat and his family) her phone vibrated besides her. 

About a hundred people liked the post already, and several commented. The same messenger from yesterday writes "Can't wait!" with a heart emoticon. Luz liked the comment. 

…

…

In her bedroom, Luz prepares for the livestream- adjusting her standing microphone, opening her recording software along with her YouTube page and discord server, changing the twitch settings- it's a standard routine for her. She's only livestreamed a few times before, all of which went smoothly with only minor complications. 

She opens her game library and clicks on her favorite game- Minecraft. Her viewers liked when she played that game. She enjoyed it because it was an outlet for her creative mind. 

Luz takes a deep breath, tweeting out "the livestream has started!" and clicking broadcast and starting the stream. She adjusted her headset and spoke. 

"Okay, hopefully I got this thing working right… " she mumbled. 

Dozens of people already joined the stream, flooding the side message board with questions and generally nonsense. 

"is the volume good enough?" She asked. The response she garnered proved successful. "Okay, that's good. How are y'all doing tonight?"

The chat responded with varying reactions. 

"So, first off, I'd like to say thank you for helping me reach 50k subscribers! I am… shocked really, at the love I'm getting. Originally, I started this channel for my own enjoyment. I never had many friends, well, I still don't have friends… so making videos was a way to talk to people…" she paused, unable to stop the grin creeping on her face. "I would have never expected what followed. So… I just wanna say, thank you all."

She chuckled slightly. Her eyes burned slightly. "Really, thank you everyone for sticking with me and watching my content. It… it really means the world to me."

The chat was filled with different messages of support and love, sending emoticons and memes. Some jokingly mentioned they were going to start crying. 

"Okay, enough with that sappy stuff. We're gonna have some fun. How about some minecraft?"

Most of the chat agreed, and she clicked open the game, logging on and joining a Mini-game server. Her skin was of an otter, because why wouldn't it be? 

"So I was thinking about holding a Q&A while I played. How does that sound? You can send your questions down below!" 

Immediately, people started flooding the chat with questions, most harmless and playful. While that happened, Luz entered a match on skywars with two other people. She was loaded onto the red team. 

"Gotta wait for it to load," she muttered to herself, playing around with the hemming of her shirt. 

Something sounded from the other players on her team, the rattling and shuffling of a microphone. Luz winces, turning down her volume slightly. She never liked certain noises. After a few moments, a male voice spoke. "Hello?" 

She looked up. "Oh, hi! We're on the red team together, huh? We're gonna dominate them!" 

"Um, yeah, sure," the voice spoke unsure. "Wait… you sound familiar. I've heard your voice before."

She smiled. "Uh, maybe. I'm not sure. I'm Luz, by the way! What's your name?"

"Wait, Luz? Like in TheLuzara?"

"Yeah! That's my YouTube name."

"Oh my gosh!" he yelled, voice high-pitched and cracking with excitement. Luz winced at the volume. "You're TheLuzara! I watch your videos all the time! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!..."

Luz turned her head to her mounted camera, grinning widely at the outburst. She'd never had someone actually recognize her in person, let alone by voice. It made her heart swell. The chat seemed to acknowledge her fan, saying his reaction was cute and heartwarming. 

"I'm glad you like my content!" She said. "We're gonna have so much fun playing together-"

"What's going on?" another voice, female, asked. 

"Willow! It's Luzara! My favorite YouTuber!" 

Favorite. She is someone's favorite youtuber. She tries her best not to squeal. 

While the male voice rambled to his friend (he never did tell her his name) the match finally started. They quickly dominated the opposing teams. Luz switches between answering her fans' questions and talking with her teammates, and focusing on playing the game. The questions are simply. But some are downright weird. 

"Would I rather have spaghetti eyelashes or pizza fingernails…?" she pauses. "Pizza fingernails, for sure."

An hour passed, and the three of them continued to converse and play together. Sometime after, Luz addresses the stream announcing its completion and with a goodbye, she ends the broadcast. She leans back in her chair, stretching her arms and cracking her knuckles. She sipped her water besides her. 

"Could I ask something? If you're okay with it, of course… " He trailed off. 

"I'm listening."

"Do you think, maybe like, we can have your skype? Discord maybe… ?" He asks. Luz couldn't ignore the tremble in his voice. 

"Sure, it's Azuraqueen, it's the one with a picture of the GoodWitchAzura. For my discord, it's hashtag 4220." she says. "What's yours?" 

"It's GussyFussy. Kinda of silly, I know."

Luz giggled. "I think it's cute!" 

Something rustled across his microphone, his voice piped up later. "Aw, shoot! I have to go, but it was fun playing with you! See you!"

"Wait!" Luz calls out. 

"Yeah?" he asked, sounding confused. 

"You never told me your name…?"

Something rustled again. "Oh, it's Augustus. But some just call me Gus!" and with that, he and his friend exit the server.

She gently leans back, eyes glancing to the ceiling. She removes her headset, wrapping the cord around it's base and setting them on the table. The chair spins around, it's back facing the computer and a peaceful silence washes over the room. She expected a simple gaming session, and she somehow ended up with two… friends? Could you even call them that? 

She closes her eyes. She considers this livestream a success.


	3. EDA CLAWTHORNE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Friday. Luz visits her step-mother's shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. More insight.

All her mornings begin the same. Phone vibrating against her nightstand, groggily brushing her teeth and taking her medication (much easier now, since she set a reminder along with her alarm) and dressed herself for school. On weekends, she gives herself a break, allowing herself the much needed rest before planning and recording another video. 

Today though, something different happened. 

She groans, unplugging her phone from it's charger and shutting off the reminder. She closes her eyes, sighing and bracing herself for another day. Luckily for her though, today was Friday. She pushes herself out of bed, rubbing her wary eyes. A ping sounded throughout the room, singling a notification from discord. 

Confused, she heads over to her computer and opens discord, finding a small icon hovering in the bottom left corner. GussyFussy has sent you a message. She clicks on it. 

GussyFussy: hey!!!

GussyFussy: I know it's hella early but I rly wanted to message u before school because, yknow we probably wont be talking for awhile

GussyFussy: sry I'm being spazzy 

Outside her window, the sky was still a stark black, swirled with tints of orange, eventually fading into a hazy blue. She eases herself into her computer chair, rolling towards the monitor to her right and starts typing. 

AzuraQueen: hey! ur not being spazzy lol

AzuraQueen: tho I do have to go to school. we can talk this afternoon and play together. If u want to of course

The muted chirps of birds filled her ears while she awaited a response. Her mind lingered elsewhere. She's always had a connection with her audience and with that, many have tried to reach out and directly message her. The messages never go past questions and trading the typical pleasantries, so she never exactly got her hopes up. 

A ping interrupted her thoughts, and she read the message. 

GussyFussy: sure! I'll send u a message later

GussyFussy: see you later :-)

She smiles. 

AzuraQueen: see you :)

Luz stands from her chair, logging off of discord and returning to her normal morning routine. She brushes her teeth, takes her medication, and dresses herself. She steps outside her house, taking a deep breath. The air was crisp, slightly cooler than yesterday. Hands rubbing her backpack strips in a familiar motion, she makes her way west for school. 

…

Luz doesn't go straight home after school, instead making a detour and handing towards the convenient store. Instead, she places several candies inside a brown paper bag- an assortment of fruit flavored gummy bears, sour worms, sweet tarts, and strawberry hard candies. She hands the cashier a ten dollar bill and receives her change. 

She pockets the money, giving a curt wave and exits the establishment. Walking in the opposite direction, she texts her mother and tells her of her plans. 

Me: I'm gonna visit eda's shop today, it'll come back with her later

A moment passes before she receives a response. 

Mom: Okay sweetie, be careful, tell Eda I said hi :-)

Me: 👍

She pockets her phone and starts heading west. She holds the bag tightly, walking west and towards the local library where a bus station resides. She takes a seat, resting her backpack between her legs. She scrolls through her phone, doing her usual routine of liking and retweeting posts until her bus comes. 

...

The downtown area is considerably lively for such a small population of residents. A steady stream of people wandering down the stone-paved streets, hands clutching briefcases or arms holding shopping bags. On weeknights, the traffic tends to slowly vanish through the hours, but on weekends, the congregation of people is overwhelming. 

Stepping off the bus, she is relieved to be off those uncomfortable plastic chairs after almost twenty minutes. She holds her backpack strips tightly, taking in a deep breath. The aroma of several busy restaurants filled her nostrils. A gentle breeze rustles her hair and caresses her face. 

She heads down the pathway, blending into the groups of people following the same route, she gazes at the many shops and businesses wedged between each other. Glass window panes showed various merchandise and rays of light reflected off, shining onto the pavement in a scattered pattern. Benches hidden beneath the cooling shade of maple trees were placed in the center of the street, allowing people to rest their sore feet. 

Despite the scenery, she is glad she does not live here or within the more populated section of the city. The amount of people flooding the streets everyday would make life a lot more difficult. 

Her step-mothers shop is not far from the bus stop and only takes several minutes of walking down the pathway to be met with shining advertisement. Outside, the pawn shop is humble, nothing too eye-catching, especially compared to the stores surrounding it. Inside is more fancy, walls lined with unique and impressive items and countless trinkets and gadgets lining the counters or shelves. 

The humble shop is mostly vacet, unsurprisingly so. She has only ever visited during these empty hours. She wonders what it's like at the shops busiest. Standing behind the counter, her step-mother is handling a long cane, an owl carved thoughtfully on it's tip. King sits perched atop a dresser, watching his master fiddle around with the cane. Even with no way of expressing himself, his gaze reeks of boredom. 

The bell jingle above the door announces her arrival for her. Behind the counter Eda looks up from the cane, expression changing from slight amusement to elation. She had always been excited at the sight of her loved ones entering the shop, as they usually come very sporadically.

"Kid," Eda calls out as King bounces besides her. "It's been some time since you last visited here! How was school?"

She smiles. "Yeah, I haven't really gotten the time to visit during the day. School was boring, but what else is new?" 

"I feel ya, kid," something catches her eyes. "And I see you've got something…?" she peers past the counter, eyeing the paper bag in her hand, trying to remove the grin on her face. She is fully aware of its contents, as she always brings treats with each visit. 

She strolls behind the counter, finding an empty chair wedged between two boxes. She gently moves the chair, careful to not disrupt anything, and places it closer to the counter. She sits her backpack on the floor. King leaps from the dresser, landing and curling besides her. She scratches behind his ear. 

Luz hands her the brown bag, watching as her stepmother digs into the bag and takes out some of the treats. She hums in satisfaction. 

"These," she pauses to chew then swallow. "These candies have always been my favorite. Thanks." her grey-streaked hair flips over her shoulder as she turns to Luz. 

"It's no problem."

While she enjoys her candies, Luz takes a glance around the shop, eyes landing on the cane Eda was holding prior to her arrival. It's carved precisely, composed with hues of brown, shaped with curling and wavy lines. The owl itself is detailed amazingly, highlighting small ruffles of feathers. It's clear that the carver cared immensely while creating it. 

"That cane looks awesome! Looks like something from Azura!" Luz mentions, running her fingers down the smooth lines.

"Huh?" she looks over. "Oh, that? Probably my favorite find yet. Could you believe someone traded this in for 50 bucks?" 

She stares at it, somewhat lovingly. "I'm gonna replace my current cane with this one. I'll be the most stylish woman in the plaza with this!" 

They trade the typical small talk, .

"I met someone during the livestream." 

Eda perks up at the words. "Someone?" 

Luz closes his eyes and a grin breaks across her face. She rubs her forehead in slight embarrassment. "Yeah. A boy and his friend. He was a big fan of mine and freaked out when he heard me." 

"Well, looks like you're getting more recognition, eh? Congrats, kid."

"Thanks…"

Their conversation falls into a lull, the gentle snores of the Cairn terrier comprising much of their exchange. Today seemed to be the midweek hump. Her eyes follow the departing figures outside the shoppe, laughing and chatting while passing the store. A twinge aches in her chest. She isn't jealous, she believes. It's something else. A Longing. 

"Do you think I could make friends?" she asked without meaning too. 

Eda looks at her, brows furrowed. "I don't see why not." 

"What brought this on?" 

Luz pursed her lips. Words are escaping her, and she scrambles to find herself an explanation. After a few moments she laughs at herself, because truly, she doesn't know what exactly brought herself to ask that question. She twists herself around to face her stepmother. 

"Those people I met. I'm glad I've met them, maybe we can become close friends! But… a part of me doesn't want to believe it. Like, maybe, they're using me for something. I dunno… " she paused. "Maybe I'm wasting my time…"

There's a tense silence, and Luz finds herself gazing at the ceiling. 

"Have you talked to him since then?" 

She nods. "Yeah, he messaged me this morning. He wanted to play with me later. Seemed pretty happy, though." 

She clasps her hands together. "Well, I think this kid really does like you."

"Yeah, but-" 

"Luz, " Eda interrupts, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If this boy was using you, he wouldn't have immediately recognized you and flipped out when he did. I believe he truly enjoys your stuff and just wants to hang out." 

Luz sighs, mulling over her words. She thinks back at his reaction to her, how excited he'd become. She felt foolish now and heat rose to her cheeks. 

"That… makes sense," she says. "Kinda feel dumb now." 

"We have our moments." Eda chuckled, smiling warmly at her. Luz smiles back. 

And for a moment, everything is okay. 

…

…

Inside her dark room, she scrolls mindlessly on her phone, the light hits her face in blue hues, painting soft shadows across her cheeks and jaw. She doesn't know how long she'd been laying there, cuddled inside her warm comforter. She checks her notifications, finding thousands upon thousands of people liking, retweeting and tagging her in posts. Though, one stands out from the rest, and her heart beats a little faster. 

TheLuzara has posted again. 

The girl smiled.


	4. AUGUSTUS PORTER

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday. Luz finds something and chats with Augustus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad I waited until after the season finale to post this because. Oh my god, his name is Augustus Porter. 
> 
> Some fluff and angst, but mostly more insight because I love explaining things.
> 
> AUGUST 30 EDIT: I am starting my virtual schooling tomorrow morning and will have limited time for updates. Personally, I really don't want to release short and rushed chapters, so updates for this story will be a little long. Do not worry about abandonment for this, we still have a long way to go.

Carefully, she lowered her instant noodles onto an empty space on her desk- practically on top of her keyboard- and began consuming her food, using her palm to catch any broth that spills from her fork. She eases into her computer chair, poking her toes against the messy tangle of electrical cords. She had promised herself that she'd rearrange and organize beneath her desk, but that claim had been long forgotten within her mind. 

More than halfway through that she'd randomly clicked on, Luz still has no idea what is happening. 

Truthfully, she struggles to remember the vast majority of videos she watches after the fact. Perhaps she's two invested in slurping down her instant noodles she's prepared for breakfast to convert life-style videos and house tours to long-term memory. 

It's easier for her to remember things that interest her, and her current fixation- Studio Ghibli movies. Particularly, Howl's Moving Castle. She usually spends the entire viewing of the flim talking, quoting the dialogue along with the characters with nearly perfect intonation, it's clever usage of metaphors and themes, gleefully relaying her favorite pieces of the film and information about production in her videos. Her viewers don't exactly understand her enthusiasm, but they seem to appreciate it. 

She chews the last of her noodles, licking the remaining broth that slides off her fork. The refrigerator is filled with various vegetables, fruits, and other breakfast foods- which she is grateful for- so she isn't quite sure why she prepared herself instant ramen this morning- and why she actually enjoyed it. 

She's just a fascinating creature like that. 

Before she rises to discard the empty styrofoam cup and fork, another video begins playing. It showed two people- male and female, both with dyed forest green hair. The female- dressed in a purple long sleeved crop-top and high waisted jeans, addressed the camera in a confident manner, smiling brightly. 

"How's it going, our beautiful, beautiful fans, and welcome back to another Blight Vlogs video! Today, we're going to be pranking our younger sister Amity with these, " She reveals two small, withered peppers. "These are Habanero peppers, rated between one-hundred thousand on the scoville unit! We're gonna mix it into her guacamole and store it in the fridge. Then when she eats some- boom! Her mouth is on fire!"

She quirked an eyebrow, expression unreadable. She isn't particularly engaged with the video, but she isn't displeased with it either. 

"Okay, we gotta do this quick, Mitten's is gonna be home from study hall soon," the male, donning a vintage NASA hoodie and ripped blue jeans, says to the audience. The video is clipped, and they jumpcut to their kitchen and from the few shots seen, it's rather large and pristine. 

She paused the video, deciding to visit the channel itself. She scrolled down, glancing at the subscriber count below the title and date. A whopping ten million subscribers rests comfortably below the channel name. The video itself had over eight million views, with over three-hundred thousand likes and ten-thousand dislikes, a fair ratio for the audience that viewed it. 

The channel, simply named The Blight Twins, had the standard lifestyle and commentary videos you'd expect from these specific channels. It was neatly categorized with each row decadited to a certain theme of video. Their most popular video titled "WE WENT TO HEXCON!" had over thirty million views. 

Typically, Luz wouldn't even bother watching these videos- she wasn't the biggest fan of such content, but something had drawn her towards this channel, a tugging inside her mind that made her keep going. 

On the channels sidebar, she found a few pages featured and favorited on their channel- A gaming channel called Jerbooo, a nature and rescue page named ItsViney, and a channel simply titled 'Amity Blight'.

Without question, she clicked on the page. 

Her channel had well over nine million subscribers. 

Her page was seemingly a beauty and lifestyle channel, with the occasional collaboration video with her siblings. Her most viewed video currently sits with forty million views titled "Road trip to Los Angeles ft the Blight Twins." 

Luz will readily admit, however, that she is a beautiful girl. With mint green hair slicked back into a ponytail and sleek sunglasses framing her face, she can easily see the resemblance between Amity and her siblings. 

...

A 'Ping!' sounded from skype. She clicked off the page and scrolled her pointer over said website. She finds herself face to face with an icon of a screaming cat, underneath reads "GussyFussy is calling you."

Had she had supernatural abilities- she would have burned through the screen with the intensity she was staring with. 

Her hand meets the smooth plastic of the computer mouse with determination, internally belittling herself for being so anxious without a virtual reason. Her heart slammed against her ribcage with the force of a semi-truck and frustration built inside of her. 

She'd never understand why communicating with one person would be so difficult compared to communicating with several hundred. 

The music jingle of skype goes on for what feels like an eternity, but suddenly it ends and she is met with an excited and slightly flustered, "Hey!" From the other end of the call she hears a child's laughter and the sound plastic being skidded across the floor, presumably a racecar. 

"Hi," Luz replies, unconsciously lacing her finger around her hoodie drawstrings. His hair was styled in a high-top fade, and brown eyes sat atop a round nose. He looked slightly younger than herself. "So you're Gus? It's good to place a face to the name."

"Ah!" He exclaims. "Sorry, I still can't believe I'm actually talking to you. You look nice today." In the background she hears the child- his younger sibling, most likely- laughing again. "I mean, you probably look nice everyday, I'm just saying that-" 

"Gus, it's okay, I get it," She chuckled, and from across the screen Gus smiles. "I know it's kinda early, but I was wondering if you'd want to play?" 

"Of course!" he's quick to answer. "What do you wanna play?" 

"How about Minecraft?" 

"Sure!"

The unsure twist inside her stomach melts into a comfortable ease as their conversation goes on as if they've been talking for weeks. The two of them trade leisurely back-and-forths about school, what they enjoy, and the prospect of her introducing him onto her channel. 

The two make steady progress on their shared world; currently, Augustus was inside a nearby cave mining the abundance of iron and coal scattered around the grey walls. Heading north, Luz looks for livestock and trees to mine. 

"So…" Augustus starts. 

"So?" She repeats. 

"We should get to know each other better." He says, mining away at a chuck of goal. "Since we're gonna be talking from now on."

'Does that mean we're friends… ?'

She disregards the thought, instead adjusting her hoodie sleeves anxiously. "Alright then. How about two truths- and a lie?"

He nods. "Okay, you should go first."

"Nope! I wanna see what I'm working with. " she counters. 

"Alright." He simply says.

"Well… I skipped two grades, actually." 

"Well, if that's true- awesome! How old are you then?"

"I'm fifteen, actually." 

"Really? Good job, Gus. You've must have worked hard to get there." 

He ducks away and chuckles sheepishly, a warm and cheerful sound that makes her nerves slowly melt away. "Thanks.. " He ponders, scrunching his nose. "Let's see, um, my middle name is Leigh, annnnd I was born in Newfoundland, Canada."

"Hmm…" Luz begins. "Well, you moving up some grades definitely sounds true… I think you're lying about being from Newfoundland."

"Nope! I was actually born there! My mother is from Newfoundland, and I moved to Orgen to live with my father." 

"So you're Canadian?" 

"Technically, yeah.

...

"...Do you say 'eh' a lot then?"

Augustus groans, dragging a hand down his face and sighing. This question had been asked countless times, she guessed, and he must be slowly reaching his breaking point. Luz finds it amusing. "No, I don't say 'eh'... Not always, anyways."

She simply smiles back. 

"Now it's your turn!"

"Okay, okay," she thinks for a moment, before loudly declaring. "I have the power… to rewind time!"

Augustus hums in amusement. "Yeah, and I'm a wizard." he jokes. 

"I've never learned how to blow a bubble with gum." She admits, ducking her head slightly. 

"You're kidding, right?" 

She blushes. "Heh heh… No… "

"How- how could you not- you know what? I'm gonna teach you someday, mark my words!" Augustus declares. "Anything else?"

…

Her chest tightens a little, and her heart beats a bit faster. Her mouth is in desperate need of water right about now. 

"Okay, I've got one…," 

"I'm… I'm bisexual."

...

There's a beat of silence. Luz distracts her uneasiness with flattening her wrinkled hoodie. His expression remains neutral, but she notices the slight arch in his eyebrows. 

"Oh, if that's true, coolio."

She blinks. "You're… not upset?"

"Why would I be upset?"

Suddenly, Luz feels very foolish. "I dunno, it's just, like- people are weird like that, yknow?" 

"No offense, but I kinda pegged you as the bi type." he says, and Luz fumbles, finding herself unable to muster the words necessary to form comprehensible sentences, the fear of rejection bubbling inside her stomach. He continues on. "I'm not judging, though. I'm bisexual myself."

Oh. 

Well. No judgement to be found, then. 

This news relives her. Having been rejected in the past for liking female classmates and being mocked for it, she never opened up about her sexuality with anyone until now. She smiles, a genuine grin that stretches across her face. "Thanks, Gus. Yknow, you're the only person I've ever told." 

"Really? I'm honored." He says, placing a hand over his chest in an exaggerated manner. She laughs. 

"So, I'm gonna have to come up with something else because- OH NO!" Luz screams in absolute horror. 

Having been chatting with Augustus, she'd completely forgotten she had been walking around an open plain, and her character falls right into a ravine, all her items falling into the stream of lava and obsidian. The giant 'You died!' that covered her screen only added salt to the wound. 

"Did- did you just-" Augustus starts, grin slowly stretching across his face. "Did you just fall in lava?"

Luz could only stare at her screen, mouth agape, a mixture of shock and disbelief evident on her face. 

He purses his lips and turns away, stifling a smile. Laughter bubbled inside his throat and he started crackling. His laughter is contagious, as she starts laughing along with her friend. 

'Friend. He's my friend,' Luz tells herself. 'I'm his friend. He's my friend.'

Any nervousness and distress completely vanishes from her mind, replaced by tranquility and peacefulness. Things weren't so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, I'm terrible at dialogue. 
> 
> Why is Augustus Canadian? Because I said so. Plus I like Canada.
> 
> Also a small nod to another story of mine. ;)


	5. MR. BELOS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Thursday; a week later. Luz goes in for a job interview.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've hit over 450 kudos everyone! Thanks a million! 
> 
> Nothing to say for this chapter, other than MORE insight. I just can't get enough of it, can I?

"Are you nervous?" Her step-mother asks. 

Luz breaths a sharp inhale- strawberry air freshener filling her nostrils. "Kinda… "

"Well just remember to make eye contact. Not too much though! You'll look like a weirdo."

"Si, and make sure you ask questions! Employers take you more seriously when you ask questions. Don't ask a lot, though. Are you sweaty?"

"Guys… "

"Hmm?" They hum in unison. 

"I'm trying to focus… "

Her mother says. "Oh, okay, carino."

...

"We're just saying- you get really sweaty when you're nervous… " Eda chides. 

Luz frowns. "I'm just saying," 

They are currently traveling to Coven Inc, an multinational electric retailer based in Salem, Oregon, her hometown, for a job interview. Originally, she was pleased with working inside such a large store; as she planned to simply work at a nearby coffee shop for extra money outside of her allowance. Her mother had mentioned another job application- "It pays better!"- she had reasoned, and somehow convinced herself that this was an alternative. 

Her poise of that of a fumbling, anxious teenager finally mustering the courage to fill in a job application. A teenager that is focused on one thing: gaining money. Over the course of several hours, her worries began to rise inside her like a slow-cooker. Anything could go wrong. She could ruin her dress shirt and slacks, say something intentionally rude, or possibly knock over a one thousand-dollar Samsung seventy-five inch Television. 

And yes. She gets sweaty when she's nervous. 

They pull into the parking lot and park. Luz swallows and opens the backdoor. 

"Okay, okay, I believe in you, mija! You can do this!" Her mother encourages, throwing a smile her way. She turns away, rubbing a palm across her eyes. 

"Uh, mom? You okay?"

She looks up, quickly regaining her composure."Yes, yes, I'm fine! Now go! You have a job to get!" In the passenger seat, Eda shoots a thumbs up. Luz smiles. 

"Bye, ¡deseame suerte!" She says, and with a curt wave, she makes way towards the grand entrance of the store. 

...

The store smells of plastic- a particular scent she can't quite stand. Bright fluorescent bulbs hang above the establishment- Counters are placed near the far right entrance, on the left lay the counters displaying tablets and phones. Lining the walls are shelves stocked with phone accessories and items. The color scheme is overwhelmingly blue. 

Inside the store is decently filled, mostly technology nerds and adults handling their adolescents from smudging the near flawless glass cases. She wonders how much money this shop makes considering they hold the latest in Coven Inc technology. 

She goes over to the store management counter. A teenage boy with greasy blonde hair stood. 

"Hi," Luz says, somewhat nervously. 

He stares with little emotion to be found in his features, shoulders slouched as his arms hung limply at his sides. "Hey."

"Um, I'm here for my job interview?" 

He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "Name?"

"Luz Noceda."

With a sigh, he walks from behind the counter. "Follow me." he says. 

She trails after him as he leads them to a backdoor marked 'Employee's Only'. Inside, the hallway is dimly lit and leads to an open waiting space. The room is vacant aside from a small table and chairs. A door is wedged in the left corner. 

"Just wait here. The boss will call you when ready," His voice is anything but uninterested and he leaves before Luz could muster a small 'thank you'. Disregarding the attitude, she sits herself on the chair facing furthermost from the door. She takes a moment to wipe her clammy hands on her trousers. 

After fifteen minutes of sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs, someone enters the room and glances around. 

"Noceda?" 

He's a large man- about six seven feet, with black locks tied into a high bun and stark beard lining his jaw. His vivid blue eyes glared with such intensity that she simply cannot fathom how someone wouldn't falter under his gaze. 

"Hello," He greets, offering her a handshake. 

She takes it. His cold and wrinkled hand easily engulfed her own. "Hi, Mr… ?" 

"Call me Belos," He states, expression unwavering. 

"Belos… I'm Luz."

"Yes, I know quite a few things about you from your little resume." 

She rubs her neck, something she always does when nervous. "Oh, yeah, hehehe… "

Belos turns on his heels, motioning her to follow. They head towards a backroom and into a cramped office space. Boxes of papers and supplies stacked neatly around the room, and a single desk with a computer sat near the right corner. They both sit. 

"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Belos says, voice hardened. 

Luz tugs absentmindedly at a loose thread on her dress shirt. "Well, um, I'm a Youtuber,"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Youtuber?"

"Yes, it's a person or group who-"

"Yes, I am well aware of the term. Thank you," he interrupts, holding his hand up. "And how many 'followers' do you have?"

"A little over fifty-thousand, sir."

"Hmm." He scribles something down. "What else?"

"Hug? Oh, um… I love movies!"

"What genre?" He asks. Perhaps she is imagining it, but Luz sees a glimmer of what looks like interest in his eyes. 

"Oh, it doesn't matter, really! I love Studio Ghilbi movies! Spirited Away, My neighbor Totoro, and my favorite is Howl's Moving Castle. Someone mentioned it in a tread one time, at first I thought 'ehhh, it can't be that good,' but they're actually really-" 

Something tugs inside her stomach and she stops her monologuing. Belos looks largely uninterested. 

Warmth engulfed her cheeks. She smiles sheepishly. "Sorry… " 

He clears his throat. "It says on your resume that you have Attention Hyperactivity Disorder?" 

Luz nods. "Yes, sir."

Belos laces his fingers together, appearing more business in the process. Are there any… accommodations I would have to make?"

She glances to the tile floor in thought. "If you'd like… could you please excuse my lack of focusing and forgetfulness? I will try and remind myself, but certain things still slip my mind."

"Very well." They remain at near silence for some time. Belos scribbles something on scrap paper and places it inside a folder. He clears his throat once more. 

"Ms. Noceda."

Her heart beats a little faster, and anxiousness builds inside her chest. 'This is it… '

Belos leans forward and lays a hand on the surface- fingertips brushing the neat stack of papers besides him. "I'm going to be straight-forward. You seem like a… pleasing young lady,"

'Oh no…' She thinks sadly. 

"This job position has just opened up. Our store doesn't really need to hire anyone," Belos explains. "Though, no one else is willing to fill in this position. Do you understand?"

Luz stares at him blankly. 

"You've got the job."

She blinks. "Huh?

"It's not official yet. But you've got the job. You will receive a phone call sometime next week to confirm this. Just act surprised and my guess is that you can start by Monday. Is that clear?"

"Yes! I mean- Yes. It's clear." 

His expression softens if only a little, the crease in his forehead faltering, and lips being pulled into a conflicted smile. "Well then, I guess we're done here then. Take care, Ms. Noceda." 

"Thank you, Mr. Belos!" 

Her foot brushes against a box and it tips over, hundreds of white printer paper spilling onto the carpeted floor. Her shoulders tensed and she cringed under Belos' scrownfull scowl. Her mouth opens for an apology, but Belos simply points his finger towards the exit. 

...

It's slightly overcast outside and the wind brushes through her short hair. She takes a deep breath, and the cool wind fills her chest. She pumps her fists up with a bellow. 

"Yes!" She is unable to relax the muscles in her face as she smiles. She gives in, and does a small dance. "Oh yeah, I got the job, oh yeah, go Luz~"

She stops in her tracks, blushing as her mother's Honda Civic pulled by the curbside. Eda chews her bottom lip, trying to hide her smile. "So… I take it your interview went pretty well…"

Luz nods, a stupidly wide smile splitting her face. "It was a little scary, but I think I did pretty well!"

"Aw, I'm so proud of you, mija!" Her mother cooes. "My sweet bebe is becoming a woman…We should celebrate!"

"You don't have to-"

"Yeah! Cake!" Eda yelled, and her mother shook her head and smiled. "Get in here, kid!"

She grabs the handle and swings the door open, throwing herself into the backseat with a muted thud. She took out her phone, opening twitter and typing: 

'I'm gonna start my new job soon!!!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made Emperor Belos lame. Screw him.


	6. BOSCHA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Monday. Luz starts her new job and meets an...interesting customer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, school kicked my ass. 
> 
> Once again, thank you all for your reviews and feedback! I truly love reading all of your comments, even if I don't respond soon.

Today is quite possibly the most mundane evening Luz Noceda has ever experienced. 

Her everlasting shift combined with her tiring school day and early morning sunrise bored on her shoulders as she worked. Her limbs felt heavy, her feet shuffled on the floor, her eyelids drooped. There was an influx of customers throughout the door, only slowing around midday but surging after five p.m. 

There's no single demographic of people that frequents the store. Teenagers don't come nearly as she expected and adults typically bring their children with them, which causes more frustration and stress. On top of that, a woman with strikingly white hair kept pestering her for information on how to work the display tablets. 

"They're just for display, ma'am." Luz would say. 

"Nonsense. Why have them on display then?" The women would counter. 

Aside from that, nothing of interest occurred throughout the day. 

A teenage girl saunters through the doors with one hand tucked in her varsity jacket and the other holding her smartphone. The combination of red ponytails, bright eyes, and a sharp face strike a sense of familiarity in Luz, but she cannot place where she has seen her in the past. 

The stranger lowers her phone, tucking it into her black Jean pocket. She chews gum- opened mouth but without smacking. A bag is slung over her shoulder. 

"Hey," The girl asks, throwing a toothy smile her way. 

"Hi, how are you and how I can assist you today?"

"I'm doing great," she replies easily. She slings the bag from over her shoulders, and Luz finds herself staring at the flex of biceps beneath the cotton fabric of her jacket. It isn't to say she's attracted to her, but she hasn't been so… drawn to a complete stranger before finding the Blight siblings.

Luz wishes she could remember where she's seen her. 

She slings the bag over her shoulder, unzipping and pulling out a damaged laptop. The protective casing had scratches and dents across the surface. Opening the device, the screen was broken and several keyboard letters were scrambled. Luz looks to the stranger with raised eyebrows. 

"What… happened here?" Luz asks hesitatingly, further inspecting the damage. 

"Oh, it fell down a flight of stairs. Prank gone wrong." She says nonchalantly. She radiates a sense of self-confidence and carelessness Luz only wished she could possess. "So, you think you can fix it?"

She scrunched her nose. "I'm… not qualified for this. But I can say, without a doubt, this is unusable." 

There's a strange hush that flows between the two of them. It isn't awkward, but it isn't exactly comfortable either. 

"Ah, okay, then," The girl says and walks to her right, seemingly towards the display cases. She stops in her tracks, turning her body and shifting her eyes from the counter to Luz's face, silently motioning her to follow. With a deep inhale, she succumbs to her urging and circles around the counter, wiping her moist hands on her slacks discreetly. 

Plainly, she asks, "Yes?"

The stranger glances between the laptop displays. "Which one is the best? I need only top quality."

"Um," Luz starts, finger tapping her chin in thought. "Well, over here is the Surface Laptop three and fifithteen. Five GB. It's the newest model we have-"

The girl clasps her hands together with a resounding smack. "I'll take it."

Once more, Luz is left befuddled. "Really? It's fairly expensive, about eight hundred dollars-"

"No no, it's fine. I'll take it," The girl says, waving her hands. Luz unwraps the plastic zip-tie and unhooks it from the wooden table, closing the laptop and gingerly tucks it between her arms. They head back to the counter and Luz packages the laptop in cardboard and places it inside a plastic baggie. 

Luz gives her the total- nearly eight-hundred and eighty dollars, which she believes is ridiculous. You could easily buy something cheaper with the same function- and she glances at the strangers wallet, noticing a thick stack of money that isn't just composed of singles or fives, but fifties and hundreds. Whoever this person is, they are certainly wealthy. Luz definitely envied them. 

"When is your next break?" The stranger asks, speaking so casually it's like they've known each other for years. 

Luz raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I just finished my break…" 

"What time do you get off?"

"About six thirty-"

"Okay, I'll be here before then." The stranger says and she saunters off, bag in hand. She twists her head back, "See you, nerd girl."

Luz doesn't have time to respond before she exits the entrance. 

…

She grabs her belongings from her assigned locker and closes it. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she pushes the backdoor open. The balls of her feet were sore and she was in desperate need of rest, but she continued through the hallway, clocking out and stepping through the entrance doors. The air was cool and refreshing, and the parking lot was bathed in a golden hue. 

"Hey," A hand landed on her shoulder and Luz jumped violently, shrieking and twisting around to find the coplurpit. It's the girl from earlier. 

"Woah, woah, chill out!" She speaks up again, chuckling as she adds, "My bad. Didn't mean to scare you."

A hand clutches her chest and she weakly smiles. "It's… okay."

There's a moment of silence as Luz regains her breath, hunched over and supporting herself with her hands on her knees. She straightens herself out and takes a deep inhale, wiping her hands on her slacks. "Um, what exactly are we doing here? Not to be rude. "

"Oh, yeah," She says, she reaches in her back pocket and pulls out her wallet. "This is for helping me find another laptop. Here." She pulls out a stack of money, folded in half and held together with a money clip. The topmost bill reads with a solid fifty. 

Luz almost malfunctions. 

"This is… " Luz trails off, feeling overwhelmed.

She holds up her hand, sticking her wallet into her back pocket with the other. "Listen, I really needed this done and I didn't know where exactly to start and Amity would have killed me if she found out what I had done to her laptop." she says without pause, and Luz stops listening after she reaches a certain someone's name. 

Mumbling, she asks, "Blight?" 

The girl looks up, flashing a cheeky smile. "Yeah."

It isn't her name itself more so the meaning behind them. This stranger- this completely random person- has gifted her five hundred dollars and is someone associated with Amity Blight. A plethora of emotions are running through her mind- excitement, confusion, curiosity, shock- you name it. 

Luz is suddenly very, very sweaty now. 

Luz takes the bills, probably looking ridiculous with her mouth agape at the donation of cash. The girl let's go of the cash, and Luz gawks at the stack. Without thinking, she blurts out, "Who are you?"

The girl quirks an eyebrow. 

She backpedals. "I- I mean, I didn't mean it like that. It's just- you look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?"

The girl flashes that same cheeky smile and folds her arms. "You probably have."

Luz blinks. 

"I'm a youtuber. Six million subscribers. Sometimes on Amity Blight's channel." She pauses, then, "My name is Boscha. My girlfriend said a friend of hers hangs with you. You know Augustus Porter, right?"

She nods. "Y-yeah." 

Boscha unfolded her arms and took out her smartphone. "Can I have your number?"

Luz's eyes widened slightly. Her request had come off more as a command rather than a question. She nods, grabbing her phone and swiping to her contact list. 

She lists the numbers aloud to Boscha, having repeated the numbers back to her to ensure they are correct. After hitting the save button, Luz laughs sheepishly and scratches her neck. 

They both bid farewell, Boscha walking off towards a red Mustang GT. She swings the door open and twists around, hollering out, "Amity's looking forward to talking with you!"

Luz stands there, a wad of cash tucked inside her pocket and a celebrity looking for her. She smiled dumbly. 

She considers her first day successful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a huge fan of Boscha's cannon personality and this is an AU so... Retcon?


	7. AMITY BLIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Tuesday. Luz makes a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun.

Her plastic baggie sways besides her as she walks into her house, tossing her backpack on the couch and moving towards the kitchen. Another school day, another convenient store run. This time instead of granola bars, she settles on a packet of fruit snacks and watermelon gum. 

Opening the refrigerator doors, Luz grabs a packet of sliced pork and a reusable chilled water bottle. She grabs a skillet from the pantry and sets it on the flaming stovetop, listening to the brief sizzle of sliced pork as it connects with the hot surface. 

Her phone felt like a cinderblock in her pocket. Neither her or Boscha had spoken since their conversation yesterday evening and Luz felt obligated to contact the girl. Though, something was weighing her down, stopping her movements. It wasn't fear- that word sounds far too intense for what she is currently feeling- more like anxiousness. 

As the meat sizzles, she pulls her phone from her pocket and unlocks it was a swipe. She scrolls down to her contact list and finds an unknown number and she hesitates, thumb hovering over the call button. She closes her eyes and sighs, hearing Boscha's voice calling out to her from the parking lot. 

'Amity is looking forward to talking with you.'

Her thumb meets the screen. 

It only takes a few seconds for someone to answer. 

"Hello?" 

"Um, hey," Luz replies and then clears his throat, peering at the skillet to check on the sliced pork that cooks inside, "This is, uh, Luz. From Coven Inc."

"Oh!" The voice exclaims, "Almost didn't recognize your voice. So, how're ya?" In the background she hears muffled voices- presumably her friends. Her heart beats a little faster. 

"I'm doing fine, thanks," She says, turning off the stovetop and removing the skillet. "Um, you left me this number… so, did you need anything? Want to chat or something?"

"Oh, I don't wanna talk… no offense. But my friend however…" she says, pulling the phone away for a moment to shout of someone's assistance. There's rustling and she hears a click from the other end. 

"Ms. Blight wants to speak?"

Boscha scoffs. "'Ms. Blight'? Never call her that again." she continues, someone's laughter following soon after. 

"Noted." Luz's quick to say. She slides the pork from the skillet and onto some flat bread, squirting a sickening amount of mustard onto the sandwich. "Are you sure she wants to speak with me?" 

"She's literally been talking about you all day." Boscha claims. In the background, a flustered and unprepared voice calls out "I have not!". On the other end, she hears Boscha's squeaky laughter. 

"Uh… " 

"Don't worry, she isn't a weirdo or anything. Well, she is, but- ouch!" Something starts moving and the other end is completely muffled - placed speaker down, most likely- and more shuffling presumes in the distance. 

She takes this opportunity to head upstairs; her phone tucked between her shoulder and ear. In her bedroom, she sets her meal down and shrugs off her jacket, throwing it haphazardly among a pile of clothes collecting on a leather chair and kicking off her shoes. 

"Hello?" she says, voice much softer than what Luz had expected. 

"Oh, hi!"

"Is this Luz?"

"Mh hm," She hums and starts eating her sandwich, stopping only to lick the mustard dripping down her fingers. 

"Oh. I'm Amity Blight. Y'know, from YouTube. OW!"

She brushes off the response, setting her plate down. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm calling from my friend's phone…" She shyly says. "I'm not perfect!" She utters to someone else, presumably Boscha. 

"Everything alright?"

"Yup! Everything is fine. Just peachy. How are you today?" Amity inquires and someone else snickers in the background. "Edric, I swear to god-"

"Amity?"

"Yes?"

"Boscha said you've been talking about me?" 

Amity chuckles nervously, "Uh, w-well, I just happen to be a… fan of yours. And it just so happens that someone I know is friends with you so… " 

"You're a fan?"

"Yeah, I-"

Luz is suddenly very conscious of how often she is asking questions, how much she's stammering, and how clammy her hands and underarms are getting. There's a wave washing over her body, flooding her lungs. She can't breathe. 

She stumbles, before quickly spewing out, "I have to go. I'll call you back, see you later!"

Pressing the end-call option with her thumb, she launches her phone across the room and onto her soft marsh of blankets and pillows. Practically sprinting to her computer, she boots it up and contacts Augustus on discord. 

In all caps, she writes: 

...

TheLuzara: HOLY FUCK

A few moments pass before Augustus forms a response. 

GussyFussy: ur cursing??? Is it an emergency???!

TheLuzara: DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE NAMED BOSCHA

GussyFussy: oh yeah that's my friends girlfriend lol

GussyFussy: why

TheLuzara: BECAUSE SHE CAME TO MY JOB YESTERDAY???? AND ASKED FOR MY NUMBER BECAUSE AMITY BLIGHT WANTED TO TALK TO ME????

TheLuzara: AND I JUST HUNG UP ON HER????

GussyFussy: luz

GusayFussy: what the hell

TheLuzara: WHAT DO I DO

GussyFussy: well calling her back would be a start

…

Luz stands from her chair without responding, snatching her phone and pressing the call button once more. Again, it only takes a few seconds for someone to respond. 

"...Hey," Amity starts, but trails off, still talking with someone in the background. 

"Hi," Luz replies, just as stunted for what their next step should be as seemingly Amity is. 

"I'm… sorry if I did something wrong," She says slowly, as if she was calculating the correct words after she'd hung up unexpectedly. 

Luz shakes her head. "You haven't done anything wrong. I shouldn't have hung up. I was… excited to talk to you."

Amity chuckles at that, and more shuffling comes from the other end. There's another, awkward pause. 

Fiddling with her shirt collar, Luz finally asks, "You enjoy my content?"

"Yes… I've been watching your videos for a while and I've always found you entertaining. And when Augustus mentioned having contacts with you…" There's another pause and more shuffling. "It was sorta on impulse that I called you." 

Her heart skips a beat. She takes in a sharp inhale, and when it leaves for mouth, it comes out shakily. She opens her mouth, but her breath is constricted by the tightness in her throat. "You… like my channel that much?"

Amity chuckles, a sweet sound that fills her already beating heart. "I like it a lot. I… wouldn't be calling if I didn't." 

The lump in her throat is growing larger by the second, the air around her was dense. Wetness slides down her cheeks, and it is only then that she realizes she is weeping. 

Her nose was running, and she unconsciously snuffled, a mangled weep escaping her throat. Amity must have noticed this, because her voice pipes up again, clear with panic. "Are you… crying?"

Luz chuckles weakly, wiping her eyes with the base of her palm. "Y-yeah…"

"Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry if I-"

"No, no!" She cuts off, snuffling again. "It's just… It means a lot to me, really. I've never really had someone show genuine compassion for me outside of my family." 

Deep inside, Luz knew that she shouldn't have been telling her this. Something so deeply personal could be manipulated by others for their advantage. She'd learn this the hard way throughout the years. But something tugged at her stomach. Something that made her believe that she could open up to her, that she could be vulnerable. 

But, if this wasn't the right moment… 

'I'm gonna be let down again,' Something echoes inside her mind. 

"Are you still there?" Amity asks, somewhat nervously. 

Luz chuckles softly. "Yeah… I'm glad my little outburst didn't make you hang up. "

"I'd never. I'm glad I'm speaking with you," 

The conversation eases into a comfortable silence. Luz wonders what she should say next before Amity starts speaking. 

"Look, I'm gonna make you an offer... " An offer? Luz isn't sure how to respond, raising her eyebrows in curiosity. She is intrigued, though, as she never had someone directly ask for something unless with paid interest. She just wonders what it could be. 

"My birthday is in a couple days. I want you to come." Amity states. 

Her head nearly explodes with thought. 

The sentence runs on an endless loop inside her head and Amity keeps talking, but Luz hasn't been listening. "I-I'm sorry, Amity, could you repeat that?" 

There's a brief pause. "I want you to come to my birthday party next week in Portland?"

Stammering, she says, "M-my moms work next week, I don't think I can manage a ride."

"I can give you a ride," Amity counters. "And don't worry about fancy clothes. Just come as yourself."

"What day next week?" She utters. 

"Tuesday. Six thirty. My siblings will pick you up around three, okay?" The pause is palpable, and muffled speaking comes from her end. "Augustus will be here as well. You can finally meet him in person. How does that sound?"

"That… sounds great!" Luz exclaims, a dopey smile gracing her lips. The surrounding world seemingly vanished as she daydreamed about next week. 

"Great, great! I'm looking forward to seeing you!" Amity says somewhat awkwardly. Luz could practically hear the smile in her voice. "I'll call you later with more details, okay?"

"A-alright. Thank you so much."

"See you there. Bye!"

"S-see you… !"

And with that, the phone call ends. 

Luz blinks, trying to comprehend what exactly has unfolded before her eyes. Within the span of twenty-four hours, she receives five-hundred dollars from a famous youtuber and then gets invited to another famous youtuber's birthday party because said youtuber is a huge fan of hers. Everything felt so surreal and overwhelming that she couldn't possibly contain herself any longer. So she does what she always does when she's very overwhelmed.

Luz starts screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, she likes ungodly amounts on mustard on her sandwiches. Yes, this is based off myself.


	8. LUZ NOCEDA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Amity's birthday. Luz tries not to panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This. Is. The. LONGEST chapter I've written so far. And aside from the MR. BELOS chapter, this was my favorite to write and plan. 
> 
> EDIT September 27th 2020: FUCK the Mr. Belos chapter I loved writing every chapter that featured Boscha. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Truth be told, Luz doesn't exactly know how to behave during parties- considering she's rarely been invited to such events- so she's more anxious of accidentally disrespecting or annoying her fellow partygoers. The last thing she wanted to do was humiliate herself in front of high-profile residents. 

Her mind is telling herself that she shouldn't address these people as above her; they simply are well-known and liked, but they are still teenagers. Young, awkward, individuals who found themselves thrust into the spotlight. The birthday girl found her so entertaining that she'd personally contacted her and invited her to her birthday party. 

Deep breathe in. She was their equal. Deep breathe out. 

She decided that she'd do her best spending time at the party enjoying herself rather than degrading herself. 

Now, searching through her dresser drawers and closet for clothes, Luz begins preparing herself for the party in question, already feeling her nerves slowly rising. 

During the week leading to the birthday party, Boscha had informed her that they'd be using their outdoor pool along with hosting a sleepover. Luz doesn't exactly know what to bring, so she settled on a pair of swim trunks and her otter pajamas. 

Luz also inquired about purchasing any confections or dishes to bring along with her, to which Boscha assured her that she need not bring anything. 

From her open window, she hears the rumbling of a car engine approach the curbside of her house, the operator of the vehicle shifting into park and exiting the door with an almost shattering slam. Luz continues packing, a nervous smile tugging at her lips as someone raps the front door three times. 

Luz sprints to her window-frame, peering outside and spotting a sliver Chevrolet Malibu parked outside. She doesn't see anyone in the passenger seat and she's too far to spot anyone in the backseat, so she assumes both Blight siblings had gotten out of the car. 

She hears both her mother conversing with the twins downstairs, and Luz swiftly grabs her remaining items and stuffs them inside her bag. She slings the bag over her shoulder, flipping off the lightswitch and closing her bedroom door. 

Inside the bathroom, she gives herself one final check in the mirror. She wore torn blue-jeans and a printed hoodie embellished with a worn tabby cat and hoodie displaying small cat ears. She followed Amity's instructions of dressing as herself which she is thankful for- she doesn't have the best taste in clothing- so dressing with what she feels is okay was a weight taken off her shoulders. 

"Mija!" Her mother called out. "Your friends are here to pick you up!" 

"La vendia, mami!" Luz yells back, slipping into her native language. She swiftly grabs her medication and pockets it. Taking a deep breath, she clutches her backpack strips and makes her way downstairs. 

What she finds is… interesting. 

The coffee table is cleared in favor of a bowl of delicious pan dulce and orange soda. Edric and Emira Blight sat on the couch, Edric ungracefully stuffing the treats into his mouth while Emira took careful bites off hers. Both looked pleased with their treats and Camilia Noceda stands proud besides them. 

Emira is the first to spot Luz, lifting her head and giving a toothy grin. "Luz!"

"Luz?" Edric says, voice muffled by bites of pan dulce and bubbling soda crowded inside his mouth. "Luz, it's good to finally see you!" 

Luz grins back and her shoulders visible relax. "It's good to see you both, too! I've always seen your videos, I really like your stuff!" 

"Thank you," Emira replies. "But tonight, don't think of us as the 'Blight youtubers', think of us as your new friends!" 

She wraps her arm around Luz's shoulders and all tension building within her disappears instantly. The usage of the word 'friend' brings a comforting warmth to her chest. 

"Luz! Your mom makes the best bread!" Edric says, stuffing another piece of pan dulce into his already crammed mouth. "It's sweet, I love It!"

"It's called pan Dulce, carino." Her mother sweetly corrects. 

"Pan Dulce…" He chews in thought.

Luz glances between them both. "Thank you for driving all this way just to pick me up," 

Rolling her eyes, Emira takes a step forward and pulls her closer. "Pfft, don't even mention it. It's not a problem," she replies dismissively, waving her hand. "Now, we have to get going. Takes a bit to get to Portland. Got everything?"

Luz nods eragerly. "Yep!"

She clasped her hands together. "Well then, let's get going!" She turns to Camilia. "Thank you for housing us for the moment. We appreciate the drinks!"

"And the pan dulce!" Edric pipes in. 

"We're going to head to the car, give ya some time to say bye?" 

Luz shakes her head, "Yes, yes, I'll see you out there." 

Emira circles around the couch, Edric following behind, but not without snatching another piece of pan dulce. Emira promptly scolds him, lightly smacking his arm before walking through the front door. 

Her mother cooes, "Come here, carino." she calls and Luz eagerly embraces her mother, snuggling into her chest. "I'm so proud of you, mija. Making new friends. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yeah, I think so." 

Her mother kisses her forehead before motioning towards the door. "Go on then, have fun tonight and stay safe! Text me when you get there, okay?"

"I will. See you later! Tell Eda I said bye!" She calls out, swinging the door open and giving a final wave goodbye before she exits her home. 

…

Luz tosses her backpack into the backseat and climbs in, closing the door beside her in one swift motion. It shuts with a pleasing thud, to which her ears meets someone's throat cleaning besides her. She turns her head, finding none other than Augustus Porter staring back at her. 

"Gus!" She shouts, lunging across the seat and embracing him. "I can't believe it, it's actually you!" 

Augustus hugs her back, chuckling into her shoulder. "It's good to see you too, Luz!" 

She pulls back, a lopsided smile across her face. Augustus donned a blue Champion sweater and joggers with cyan sneakers. Two bands were around his wrist; both of the bisexual pride flag. 

"Are those…?" Luz asks, peering at the wristbands in curiosity. 

"Oh!" He exclaims, peeling one of the wristbands off and handing it to her. His eyes sparkled with excitement. "I found these online and I wanted to buy something for you when we met in person so… "

Luz takes the band, marveling at the gift. She's experienced kindness before, of course. But for someone she's known for so little giving her such a personal gift spreads a warmth over her chest and heats her cheeks. 

"Gus… " She says, smiling with wide eyes. "I love it, thank you so much!" 

She pulls the wristband over her wrist and Augustus sheepishly smiles, a light blush tinting his cheeks. "Aw, it's no problem, really!" 

The car's engine starts with a loud purr, judging by the low engine and leather upholstery, the twins take good care of their already expensive vehicle. Edric looks back from the driver's seat and chides, "Alright, lovebirds. We gotta get going." 

Augustus blushes furiously and Luz stammers for a response. 

"No, no! We're not dating!" He declares, shaking his head in protest. Luz purses her lips and nods in agreement. 

The twins laugh. "We're just messing with ya!" Emira says through laughter. "Ah, I love messing with kids… "

"I'm fifteen!" 

The group laughs and Augustus softens up and laughs along with them. They secure themselves with seatbelts and Edric shifts to drive after adjusting his rear-view mirror. The drive along the road was so smooth that it feels that they're floating on air. The hush is soon filled with chatter, trading the causal back-and-fourths about school, everyday life, and so on. Happiness engulfed any sense of dread, nervousness or anxiousness. For the first time in her life, she was surrounded by friends. 

…

Luz had never been in a house this large.

Her current house was sizable, only having to house two or three people, but nowhere near as large as the craftsman-style home of the Blight family sitting before her as she stands in the grand entrance. The doorway is wide open, green and pink party streamers wrapped around columns with green balloons. 

She cranes her head behind him, watching the twins walking along the stone walkway. They wore similar outfits- Emira wearing high-waisted jeans and a cut tank top and Edric donning a waist-cut bomber jacket and chinos: both with green colored accessories. 

The Blights sure do love green. 

Turning forward again, she makes her way to the steps leading towards the open double doors, each made with beautiful spruce wood and carved elegantly. She could hear music blasting from the backyard. Inside the living room, every curtain is pulled aside to let natural sunlight blaze into the room. Besides the door sits the main staircase, twisting against the wall and leading to an upstairs balcony. 

As she looks around the home, pictures of family and friends sit along the mantle. One in particular stood out against the rest. The Blight children stand dressed elegantly and properly, behind them stand two people- a man and women. All look bleak and without any emotions leaking through. Luz wonders why'd that be along happy and giddy childhood photographs. 

"Guys," Luz starts, following the twins and Augustus through the kitchen. She pauses, hearing her voice echo off the walls. "This house is amazing… "

"Glad you like it," Emira calls over her shoulder. "Isn't as fun as you'd imagine…" 

The backyard is equally as luxurious as their house. A lagoon-style pool spreads around the middle of the enclosed space and is surrounded by pool noodles and other inflatable loungers. Beside the pool sits a set of chairs and a table further away, leading to a comfortable lounge. Under the rooftop leading into the kitchen, a large grill with an attached counter set sits against the doorframe, surrounded by outdoor sofas and a metal table for grilling. 

The remaining half of the backyard is freshly cut grass and a large maple tree stands tall near the left corner of the space. There are several tables with seats placed around the yard and several lined against the wooden fence gate. One is already stacked with cups, plates, utensils, napkins and condiments. The table beside is lined with warmers holding food ready for consumption; others waiting for guests to place their own dishes. Another is lined with beverages such as sweet tea, lemonades, and soda's. A cooler sits aside for chilled water bottles. 

Their property was truly luxurious.

Luz watches as the twins look over everything, making sure everything is set properly and arranged accordingly. Augustus sets himself underneath the shade of the maple tree, resting his head on his folded arms and eyes closed in content. "Hey, I'm gonna go check on Gus. Be back in a sec," 

Edric merely nods and smiles, going back to searching for any mistakes. 

Walking over to Augustus, she welcomes the cooling shade of the tree. Gus peeks an eye open, smiling warmly at Luz. "Hey,"

"Hey," Luz says back. There's a brief pause before Augustus pats the earth besides him. She sets down, backpack brushing against the tree bark. The silence that washes over them isn't awkward or uncomfortable- it's filled with happiness and calmness that Luz had no choice but to embrace. She hummed in contentment. 

"Thank you, Gus," She whispers afterwards. It's nice to feel welcomed. 

…

It isn't long after Luz finds herself underneath the tree that new voices carry through the house and backyard. Opening her eyes, a teenager with brunette hair and pale green eyes walk through the kitchen. Besides her, a tall lanky boy with dark hair holds a platter of chocolate-chip cookies. 

She watches as the brunette girl strides over to Emira, embracing her and kissing her delicately. Luz's eyes widened in shock. That elation she feels seeing people like her existing in a place without judgement is almost overwhelming. She wouldn't dare express her interest in girls in her school, wouldn't dare talking about love in general in that environment. Seeing Augustus with his wristband and Emira's appeant girlfriend makes her a little more confident in her sexuality. 

"Gus," She pats Augustus' shoulder, the boy having seemingly fallen asleep. "Augustus, wake up. "

"Huh- what?" He says disoriented. 

"C'mon, the guests are coming," Luz says, standing up and pulling Augustus with her. Her eyebrows raised in surprise, finding Augustus only reaching her chest. She'd have to crane her head down to look at him. Had she never noticed how short he was? It was kind of cute in her eyes. 

They walk towards the guests and approach Edric and the lanky boy who were chatting by the beverages. "Hi, Edric!" 

Edric turns away from the boy he was talking to and reacts to her greeting with a slight start. His look of surprise morphs into a grin. "Hey, guys! How're y'all liking everything?"

"Everything is great, this place looks amazing!" Augustus says, giving his own smile. 

"Great," Edric replies, then gestures towards the boy standing besides him who gives a shy smile. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Jerbo… my boyfriend."

Luz physically has to stop herself from exclaiming "oh!" out of sheer surprise. He had neglected to mention anything of her partnership or love interest, but she ties that into the simple fact that they've just met almost two hours ago. 

"It's good to see you, Jerbo! How are ya?" Augustus asks, tucking his hands inside her pants pockets. 

"I'm fine, actually," Jerbo says shyly. Edric squeezes his hand and he blushes. 

While they continue their conversation, someone calls her name over the backyard. She cranes her head, finding Boscha waving her hands frantically trying to gain her attention. She excuses herself, crossing the backyard and towards the red-haired girl. 

"Hey, Boscha!" Luz greets. 

"Hey," Boscha says, turning her head in each direction as if she was looking for someone. "Have you seen Amity yet?"

Luz shakes her head. 

Boscha learns forward, face inches away from her ear. From the corner of her eye, she can see the friendly smile on her face morph into a mischievous smirk, a single eyebrow raising as she lowly says, "Amity is here."

She moves herself with that same cheeky smirk gracing her lips and she waves goodbye before she returns inside the house. Like her many encounters with Boscha, Luz is left dumbfounded. 

She wipes her hands on her pants; a habit, at this point. What was Boscha trying to do? Give her an anxiety attack? 

Someone gently taps her shoulder, the light contact still making her jump slightly. She feels clumsy, sweaty, and quite like a disaster. Her limbs are awkward and jumbled, and her heart is slamming against her ribcage. She turns around.

She is just about her height, maybe an inch shorter. Her mint-colored hair was tied into a high ponytail, and strands of brown hair fell forward onto her forehead, the stands too short to be properly pulled back. Pointed nose, pale skin, and golden eyes- she is undeniably beautiful. She looks to Luz with an expression pulling at her lips. Giddiness, perhaps?

"Hi, Luz…" Amity Blight says, ducking her head shyly and giving a small wave. 

Suddenly collected, Luz grins and raises her eyebrows. "So, you're the birthday girl," she could sense Boscha's gaze burrowing into the back of her head. Most likely with a smug smirk and squinted eyes. "It's good to finally meet you, Amity!" 

Amity clumsily continues on, hand rubbing her neck sheepishly, "I-it's good to meet you too… "

Luz's face brightens, "Oh! I got you something!" She removes her backpack and rummages through it, pulling out a hefty book printed with worn illustrations of title characters. "Here!" 

Amity's eyes widen, taking the book and observing its features. "The Good Witch Azura book five? How did you know I liked Azura?"

"I've done my research," She says smoothly. "This is my copy, actually. But I saw that you've never read the fifth book so… here ya go!"

She runs her hand over the hardcover, fingers brushing against the wording indented on it's cover. She brings the book to her chest and swaddles it. Perhaps it was her eyes, but a pinkish tint dusted her cheeks. "Thank you, Luz. This is truly amazing… "

"Aw, don't sweat it. Just wanted to do something special for you!" Luz dismissed, wiping her moist hands on her jeans. She mentally reminded herself to carry a small container of talcum powder for her hands. 

"Sooo…. " She starts. "What'cha want to do now, Amity?" 

"If you want we can group up with the others. There's some people I'd like you to meet."

"Well, I already met someone named Jerbo. Though, we didn't talk much." 

They head towards a table shaded by the large maple tree where the twins and their partners along Augustus were seated. Despite the spaciousness of the backyard, they walk close enough to brush shoulders. She thinks Amity leans into it, but she isn't certain. 

She feels today is going to be swell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? 
> 
> Also when I learn how to upload art on mobile it's over for you all.


	9. LUZ NOCEDA PT2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After reading Dana's Reddit AMA, we learnt some interesting things regarding Mr. And Ms. Blight. I'll be making my own interpretation of these characters differently than what we've seen in canon. Therefore, things will be OOC. Sorry in advanced.

She accepts a large slice of birthday cake from Emira, fingers painted green from the frosting. She gives her a smile and then turns to Jerbo, the next person in line for their own serving of the massive cake. Grabbing a plastic fork and carefully wading through the crowd congregating around the table, she heads to her seat. 

The party has finally begun, the music just barely audible over the chattering of the partygoers. While most are busied with their own conversations- a few of the occupants strip down, shedding themselves of their clothing and plunging into the pool in their bathing suits. The smell of burning charcoal and sizzling meats fill the space, someone having flipped over the hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken parts. Screams of laughter and joy filled the spacious backyard. 

Arriving at her table, she sits down besides Augustus, who has already finished his slice of cake and ice-cream and is currently chowing down on another slice. She raises her eyebrows and smirks in amusement. "How long was I gone?" 

Augustus says nothing and instead takes his plastic fork and scoops a piece of her cake into his mouth. He eats the sugary treat before Luz could even protest, and he earns himself payback as Luz pinches his neck. "Ow!" he exclaims, giggling. "It's just cake!"

"My cake!" She jabs again, though less roughly. She takes her fork and directs her attention towards the cake. She takes a bite and saviors the flavor before taking another. Cake wasn't her favorite dessert, but she wouldn't complain if given a slice. 

"Y'know, " She starts, still chewing. "I was thinking about introducing another face onto my channel, and I was wondering if you'd want to join me."

"Really?" Augustus asks incredulously. "You'd have me?"

Luz shrugs. "I don't see why not. You're super cool and pretty good at games." she scoops another piece of cake. "Plus, you're like, my best friend."

That must have been a baffling reply, because Augustus eyes widen and he sputters an awkward, "Thank you." 

Luz stifles her laughter. 

Moments later, Edric stalks over towards the two, portable camera and hand and smiling widely. "... And over here we have ultimate game master Augustus! His vibes are immaculate!" he monologues.

Augustus turns around, giving a toothy grin and shooting a thumbs up. "How're all doing tonight?" he asks the non-existent audience. He's smooth and composed, comfortable being on camera. 'He must be used to it.' Luz presumes. 

"And right here… " Edric pans the camera towards Luz. "Ultimate plus one, Luz! AKA TheLuzara!"

She stares at the camera conflictingly, lips painted green from the frosting and features radiating utter confusion and unpreparedness. Awkward, she gives a curt wave and crooked smile. "Y-yep! That's me, TheLuzara! Hahaha… "

Edric, seemingly oblivious to her awkwardness, points the camera to himself before declaring that, "These guys are awesome! Totally excited that they're here. You can follow them at TheLuzara on twitter and youtube and GussyFussy on twitter! Now I gotta go, be back in a sec!"

He pressed his thumb and stopped the recording, inverting the camera flips and clutching the holder besides him. "So, how was that?"

"Fantastic! Hope you got my good angle, though," Augustus jokes. Luz stares into nothing, face flushed and softly smiling. 

Boscha strides towards the group, sleek sunglasses perched on her pointed nose. She ungracefully seats herself, patting the table in excitement. "Woo! You liking this party, Luz?" her voice rises with each word and her typical smirk is plastered on her face.

If she's being completely honest, she's having a swell time, despite barely leaving her shaded table. She'll wait for Augustus or someone she's personally met to hop into the pool. But for now, she doesn't fancy swimming alone. 

Before she could compose an answer, her eyes caught sight of mint-green hair and pale skin among a small group of guests coversing near the buffet table. Boscha picks up on this, eyebrows raising slightly, "Saw Amity over there, huh?"

Luz simply nods, taking a long drink of her sweet tea. There's a palpable silence. 

"Please be her girlfriend." Boscha utters. 

Her drink is a sprinkler of foam as it spews through her lips. Liquid gets caught in her throat which subsequently causes a coughing fit, drawing the attention of several guests, including Mr. Blight who maintains the grilling equipment. Augustus begins slapping her back in a desperate attempt to dislodge the liquid trapped inside her windpipe. 

Eyes linger on the choking girl, and Luz feels compelled to hide her deeply reddening face as she tries to cough out the soda resting inside her lungs. 

"Hey, Luz," Amity says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You okay?"

While Luz is busy hacking out her lungs, Augustus explains that Boscha simply 'told a joke' at an inappropriate time, avoiding her choice of words that started this entire fiasco. 

The twins stand from their seats, inquiring if she needed any assistance- but Luz shakes her head, wanting this humiliation to end. She appreciates the concern, but she doesn't want anyone else aiding in her humiliation. The twins nod in understanding, shuffling away to return speaking to their partners. 

Amity and the girl Luz doesn't recognize stay, however, circling around the seat themselves at the table. Augustus gives Luz one more firm pat between her shoulder blades before she lets out a raspy cough, throat opening up and releasing the fluid trapped inside. She gasps for air, wheezing slightly in pain. 

After a moment, Luz manages to relax herself, shoulders slouching and head hanging low. She refuses to meet the green-haired girl's gaze, outworldly embrassessed with herself. It's impossible for Amity to have overheard Boscha's foolish remark, Amity having been engaged in an entirely separate conversation across the lawn, but that doesn't stop the warmth spreading across her face. Though, the idea of them being together does interest her, but she knows something like that would never happen. 

Amity leans forward, fingertips brushing lightly against her hand. "Are you alright?"

Luz laughs nervously, running a hand through her hair. "Yes, I'm okay," she glances briefly to her right. "Thank you, Gus."

He fumbles, lacing his hands. "It's nothing, really."

There's a moment of silence. Boscha leans forward- a somewhat nervous smirk crossing her lips- and mouths the words, "Sorry" from across the table. 

Boscha clears her throat, motioning towards the girl sitting besides her. "Anyway, uh, this is Willow," she says, "My girlfriend."

Willow gives a small wave. "How are you?" 

They converse for the time being, trading the typical pleasantries- how they started youtube (Luz learns that Amity originally started a group channel with the twins that eventually broke apart because of differential interests in content) and how they reacted when they received such popularity. Amity excuses herself for a moment, inquiring if anyone wanted any beverages. Luz decides that she doesn't want anymore drinks after her choking incident. 

"By the way, " Boscha begins, voice unnaturally somber. "I'm sorry for the 'joke' I made earlier. It was in poor taste."

Luz speaks up, shoving more cake into her mouth. "It was bad timing. It's okay."

Her next words, however, immediately flips her previous demeanor. "I was being serious, though. You two should get together."

Pausing her chewing and looking at her friend, Luz scrambles to find the correct words. Neither had the slightest hint of personal knowledge of each other, and Luz assumes this is simply a one time occurance from Amity's part. 

Luz can't think of anything and simply responds with, "Okay." before shoving more cake into her mouth. 

Meanwhile, Willow narrows her eyes towards her girlfriend. "Boscha… " she starts. "What did you do?"

Boscha looks incredulously for a moment, mouth opening and closing, looking for a response. She settles with, "It's nothing… too bad." 

She shakes her head. "Boscha-"

The couple playfully bicker back and forth, Willow lightly scolding Boscha for her inability to understand inappropriate times for jokes and puns. Augustus inquires that they should dress in their swimwear so they could relax in the pool. They all agree, rising from their seats and Boscha leading them to the inside restroom. 

"I know this house like the back of my head," Boscha quips, leading the group through the backyard and passing the wooden patio. The group passes in, but someone draws Luz's attention with a holler, "You must be Ms. Noceda."

A man circles around the grilling station to reach out his hand, his other holding a glass of Brandy. His brown hair is styled professionally and a stark beard framed his jaw. "I'm Arthur Blight. Amity's father."

She takes his hand, grasping his hand gently and finding his grip that of a seasoned businessman, firm and determined. His appearance at the moment, however, seemed to soften her own nerves, wearing a dark purple dress shirt and ankle-length chinos with simple flats. 

"Thank you for having me here," She says. "And allowing my… foolishness to show." she blushed. She momentarily thanks back to her choking fit and the expected stares of partygoers. 

He shakes his head, strands of hair falling onto his brow. "Nonsense. Thank you for indulging my daughter and accepting her request," he replies easily, releasing the handshake. "I presume you're quite busy, as most teenagers are. So I appreciate your politeness, especially since you had only just met Amity. She's very excited about your arrival." he says, smiling softly. 

She lets out a chuckle. She supposed he was correct. She could be quite oblivious at times, but even she could recognize her attitude and behavior around herself. It was of someone trying their hardest not to embrasses themselves in front of someone they were particularly fond of. 

Which was overwhelming, to say the least. She'd expected herself to be fawning over such a well-known influencer. 

"Speaking of, have you seen Amity?" Mr. Blight asks, glancing around the surrounding area. 

Luz shakes her head, "I haven't seen her since she went to grab drinks."

He hums, "Strange." He turns his attention back to the girl, smiling warmly. "Well, I hope you enjoy yourself Ms  
Noceda. I'll see you around."

"Thank you, Mr. Blight!" She says, turning around and heading inside and upstairs to the restroom. 

...

The bathroom lights were automatic. Warm fluorescent lights lit the marble bathroom to life, revealing a fluffy bathrobe hanging on the back of the door, a crystal counter lined with amenities, and an extensive wall-to-wall mirror. The bathroom was spacious, large enough for a king sized bed to fit inside. 

In the midst of putting on her swim trunks, she heard her phone ping with a notification. Repositioning her swim trunks and digs around her items for her cellphone, finding it buried underneath her discarded t-shirt and jeans. 

She swipes down and opens a new, unread text message from mother. Earlier- before the drive here- she had promised her mother that she'd message her when she arrived downtown. Her mind was occupied by gawking at the Blight family home and enjoying herself that she had forgotten to message her mother. 

Her message, however, seemed to be more anxious. The message reads, "Are you okay mija?" 

She quickly typed back, "I'm at the party. Sorry for not texting u I was doing something."

It isn't technically untrue, she was doing something. 

"HOLY SHIT, LUZ."

Luz nearly jumps out of her skin, letting out a startled yelp and nearly dropping her cellphone on the ground. Turning to her right, she's met with a visibly shocked Boscha, hands clutching her skill and knees bent with her mouth agape. Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead and expressed her astonishment.

A silence settles over the two as Boscha stares in wonder at Luz, who stands perplexed at her reaction. She takes a deep breath, waiting for Boscha to elaborate on… whatever she is yapping about. 

"...Is everything okay?"

"Girl!" Boscha cries out, further emphasizing her excitement with a frailing of her arms. She springs back into an upright posture with a jump and moves forward a bit. "I had no idea you had muscles! I thought you were all skin and bone!"

"...Muscles?" Luz asks, her voice is small.

"Wait, is that a six pack coming in?" Without missing a beat, she reaches her hand out and touches Luz's stomach, running her fingers over the developing muscles. She gasps in awe, enraptured by the muscle tone. Luz is secretly flattered, but simultaneously overwhelmed by the sudden attention and disregard of personal boundaries. Flustered, Luz gently pushes her away using the base of her hand. 

Luz grimaces, "That's weird, Boscha."

"Nothing weird about getting a bit close!" Boscha says, voice rising. 

Luz frowns, shaking her head, "That's… kinda gay, Boscha."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's gay Boscha


	10. LUZ NOCEDA PT3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the continuation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your eyes are not deceiving you. At the time of me writing this, I uploaded the original version of this chapter almost six hours ago. I decided that I was very unsatisfied with the conclusion of chapter ten and deleted it to rewrite the ending. Sorry for the inconvenience and I hope you understand. 
> 
> But on a brighter note, we hit 900 kudos! Woo! I could have never done it without your everlasting support. I appreciate and love every single one of you. 
> 
> Anyways, onto the story! Cheers!

She doesn't remember anything that has happened. 

Shifting underneath the blanket, her hazy mind fails to recognize the scent of the bedsheets, and within a few moments, she realizes that she isn't even in her own house, let alone bedroom. 

She rolls on her back, squinting from the rays of lights beaming honey-colored glow onto her face. Gradually, the events of last night return to her, hazy memories coming in and out of swimming with a flustered Amity, said person almost drowning herself, challenging Augustus to a hotdog eating contest, and Willow throwing her over her shoulders and to the bathroom after nearly spewing her guts. 

Yes, she had lots of fun. 

She lies there- eyelids still heavy from sleep- staring at a framed photograph of Edric, Emira, and a young Amity no older than six years. They wore fishing clothing and Emira held a Rainbow Trout attached to a fishing line. All smiles and giddy faces. Arthur Blight stood behind his children, hands placed delicately on Emira and Edric's shoulder, wide grin twisting his features. Mrs. Blight isn't alongside her children and husband, presumably being the photographer of the scene. 

She hadn't yet seen or met Mrs. Blight as she wasn't present at her daughter's birthday celebration. She wondered if she'd meet her sometime before she leaves today. 

Something catches her eye, and she turns to find Augustus laying besides her, limbs spread widely along the blanketed floor. Saliva pooled from his mouth and onto the fluffy cotton pillow resting his head. On his right, Boscha is curled besides her girlfriend, arms wrapped around her midsection and head resting on her chest. She smiles and considers snapping a picture for teasing purposes. 

With a huff, she attempts to lift herself from the blanketed floor to retrieve her cellphone when something shifts besides her. Her entire body goes rigid. 

Slowly, she turns her head to the side and finds herself staring at a sleeping Amity, faces so close that their noses brush against one another. Even this close, she can see Amity's hair let loose, green locks framing her face and neck. 

There's a strange warmth settling on her face- and her groin, for some reason. 

Amity shifts once more, stray hair falling over her brow. Luz cannot calm her rapidly beating heart nor the anxiety thrumming through her stomach as she lays besides the green-haired girl. 

Still, Luz doesn't leave, terrified yet transfixed on the sleeping girl. She props herself up, arm placed underneath her pillow. Silently, she watches Amity rest, memorizing the softness of her relaxed features and the faint sound of her snoring. She observes the way her chest rises and falls with each gentle breath, and counts the faint freckles scattered across her pale cheeks. 

Something inside of her wants to brush Amity's hair behind her ear, to lean forward and rest their foreheads together, to gently wrap her arms around her torso and bring her close. The golden glow bathing their bodies in blissful slumber. Her eyes widened in realization, lips parting slightly. 

'Holy hell.' 

Not to jump to conclusions but, Luz decides she might have a teeny, tiny crush on Amity Blight. 

The famous, well-known, featured in mainstream news Amity Blight. 

Quietly but as quickly as possible, she stands from her blanket, stumbling as to not step on any sleeping residents. Grabbing her backpack sat beside the door-frame, she makes her way out of the guest room and searches for the bathroom along the spacious hallway, the walls lined with artwork, family photographs, and diplomas and awards earned from the children. 

Her footsteps are light as to not disturb anyone else that may be sleeping as she wanders around the hall. She doesn't remember the location of the bathroom from yesterday and she's wary of barging into a space she shouldn't be- she spots a door opened halfway into a bright, sun-filled room. She peers inside. The bathroom has been found. 

Shutting the door quietly, she reaches inside her bag and grabs her toothbrush and removes the cap. Gently scrub the tongue, loop mint-flavoured floss around her fingertips, pull against the teeth and discard. She doesn't bring her own personal mouthwash, so she pours a splash into a dixie cup and swishes it inside her mouth. A mindless routine that makes her extremely upset if broken. 

Living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was difficult. Things repeated inside her head a lot. Meaningless things. There were plenty of times where she'd almost gotten herself hurt because she was distracted by her surroundings. It clouds her thoughts and before long, she doesn't remember what has happened or what has been spoken to her. 

She taps her pencils in class. Her classmates get annoyed because of this. "It helps me focus," she'd try to reason. They never listened. One day, she loves to interact with others and info dump about her favorite manga's and television shows, the next she'll barely leave her room because she's depressed. 

It's tiring. 

She reaches into her bag, pulling out the small orange container housing her medication. She unconsciously shakes the container, the pills bouncing off the walls with a rattle. She pushes and lifts the cap off, setting it on the counter when something- or someone- pushes the door open and looks in. It's none other than Boscha, still dressed in her sleepwear of boxer briefs and an old t-shirt. In her hands are a face-cloth and toothbrush. Over her shoulder, a bag. 

Luz stares and blinks, "You don't know what privacy is, do you?"

"Nope! How you feelin', Lu?" Boscha asks, looking youthful and chipper despite having just awoken. Her fingers drum against the door-frame in anticipation. 

Apparently- she says because she wasn't focusing on her reflection- she looks quite disheveled. Boscha's smile widens a tad as she walks fully into the bathroom. "You look terrible." she quips, letting out a snort of laughter. 

Luz groans, grousing a sarcastic, "Thanks." She reaches for her backpack, grabbing her t-shirt and jeans from yesterday. 

"You were… definitely having fun last night. Though, I stopped paying attention once you ate your eighth hotdog… "

"I had eight?!" Luz exclaims, yelling without even realizing it. 

"Oh yeah, you were downing them. Willow tossed you over her shoulders like a sack of potatoes!" Boscha chortles, spreading some kind of facial cleanser on her face. "But seriously, you threw up a lot. You had to be put to bed early."

Luz groans. No wonder her mouth tasted like roadkill this morning. 

Boscha continues, gently scrubbing her face with a damp face-cloth. "Amity knocked herself out before eleven o'clock, so we carried her into the guest room where we were sleeping."

Luz raises an eyebrow. Boscha mentioning Amity having ended up inside the guest room and her memory of having her sleeping space set up by the red-haired girl herself implies that…

She'd put them in the same space together. 

She feels warmth rising in her cheeks again, though this time, for an entirely different reason. A part of her is angry at Boscha for putting her into such an embarrassing and terrifying situation, but the flush of heating spreading across her cheeks makes her resent her long winded rant about love and privacy. 

The rattling of her pills interrupted her thoughts and she gaps as Boscha grabs her medicine container, peering at the hand-written label, her usual cheeky smile tugging at her lips. 

"Boscha!" She shouts, both angry at her for taking such personal items without permission and terrified at the thought of potential judgement coming from her end. Her shoulder hunched and her breath hitched as the red-haired girls cheeky smirk morphed into a neutral, somewhat surprised expression. 

"You have ADHD?" She asks, her usual clear and confident manner of speaking has dwindled into a more soft-spoken kind. 

Luz shifts, wiping her clammy hands on her otter themed pajamas. "...Is that a problem?"

"No, " Boscha is quick to say. Her cheeky smirk returned. "I think that just explains a lot, cutie."

She slides the container across the counter and barely catches it before it falls into the sink. Luz groans again, resting a hand on her forehead. "I cannot believe you have a girlfriend," her tone softens. "You flirt with everyone you meet!" 

"What can I say?" she says, removing her toothbrush cap and squirting some toothpaste on the top. "I have a natural charisma that makes everyone want to be with me."

Luz Noceda cannot stress enough that she, in fact, does not want to be Boscha's girlfriend. 

"Now," She continues, voice muffled by toothpaste froth. "We gotta get downstairs early. First one there gets extra bacon."

"Huh?" Luz says, swallowing a single pill. 

"Oh, right. First time," She spits out the froth, rinsing her mouth clean. "They have a mandatory breakfast after every sleepover. Mr. Blight is a really good cook, actually!" 

Luz gives a simple "hmm" in thought. 

Footsteps landing on the wood echo into the bathroom and and stop at the door. When she turns around to see who it is, she makes eye contact with a barely awake Amity, short strands falling onto her face and hair cascading down her shoulders. 

Something itches inside her chest. Something new and frightening. 'I want to kiss you so bad' kind of itch. 

Amity looks like death warmed over. Dark circles beneath her eyes and a pronounced grimace. When Boscha greets her- though, more loudly than necessary- Amity merely grunts at her, muttering something about the bathroom. She leans her forehead against the wall, letting out another strained groan. A complete opposite from Boscha's boisterous enthusiasm. 

Even though she looks and sounds quite possibly like hell, Luz still finds her incredibly beautiful. 

"Good morning," Luz greets, smiling warmly even with the girl facing backwards. 

Amity doesn't turn around, but Luz could hear the smile in her voice. "Morning."

Neither of them speak any further. Luz inquires where she could find herself a face-cloth and Amity redirects her to the cabinet beneath the sink. While dampening her face-cloth, Boscha lightly steps towards Amity and drags a single finger down the length of her spine, leading to a small jump and verbal objection from the green-haired girl. Boscha simply crackles in response. 

"Thank you for inviting me here, Amity. I appreciate your hospitality." Luz says, and she truly does mean everything she has spoken.

Amity turns around, head resting against the tile as she gives a pleasant grin. "Thank you for actually coming," She laughs breathlessly. "Y'know, I didn't actually think you'd agree to come."

Luz chuckles softly, "Truthfully, this is the first party I've ever been invited to. And it was from someone who actually liked me? I was really nervous and excited about this, but thankfully everyone had given me a chance. They seem to like me." 

Amity's expression flashes that of sadness for a moment but then smiles and places a hand on her shoulder. Her heart swells from the touch, "We all do! We're super happy that you came! You're really fun to hang out with."

She stares blankly for a moment before smiling. "Thank you, that really means a lot to me."

They both allow their gazes to linger a little longer than necessary. Luz feels fortunate that these people enjoy her company, considering how nervous she'd been thinking of the outcome of this party. Behind, she hears the subtle, hushed sound of fabric. 

Amity is the first to break eye-contact, staring over Luz's shoulder in horror. "Boscha, what the hell?!"

"What?" Boscha asks incredulously. Luz herself turns around, quickly shielding her eyes with her hand and blushing furiously. The red-haired girl had striped off her t-shirt and was standing particularly naked in front of the pair. From her quick glance, she appeared quite muscular, which made Luz even more flustered. 

"Put your shirt back on!" Amity commands, shielding her own vision. 

"I'm getting dressed!" She argues back, hands stretched out in confusion. 

"There's still people in here!"

"So?! You're both girls, afraid of a little tit?" Boscha mocks, grabbing a v-neck shirt and bra from her bag. 

As the two bicker back and forth, Luz decides that she's already flustered enough and exits the bathroom, shuffling down the hallway and back into the guest room. 

Augustus is still starfished in slumber, and Willow sleeps peaceful further from him. Deciding that she would dress herself later, and unhooks her cellphone from it's charger across the room, pressing the power button with her finger. Upon lightening up, Luz finds hundreds of notifications from both twitter and youtube. Confused, she presses the twitter app and swipes through her page. 

Her standard follower count of ten-thousand has skyrocketed to forty-thousand. 

She couldn't quite believe her eyes. 

Quickly, she closes the app and opens youtube, clicking on her channel and reading the subscriber count. She thinks her eyes are deceiving her, because she believes that reads over three-hundred thousand. 

She reads over the numbers an innumerable amount of times, counting each individual number one by one, refreshing the page to ensure that it's correct. However, it clearly reads three-hundred thousand subscribers besides the red subscribe button. 

This is real, but it feels so unreal. 

She stands there frozen in place as she stares blankly at her cellphone. Luz can't remember the last time she's earned one thousand subscribers in one weekend, let alone over four-thousand in a month. But three-hundred thousand subscribers practically overnight? 

She couldn't imagine that in a million lifetimes. 

Behind her, Boscha and Amity march into the guest room, the latter having tied her green-hair into her usual ponytail, shouting commands at the sleeping residents to wake up and ready themselves for breakfast. Augustus grunts, launching a pillow full-force at Amity who almost topples onto a groggily Willow. Meanwhile, Boscha walks over and taps her shoulder, "Yo, Luz. You gonna get dressed?" 

Boscha peers over Luz's, waiting for some kind of reaction besides her ridgid stature. After another long moment, she pinches her neck, the action garnering little response. "Uhhh, guys, I think Luz is broken."

Absentmindedly, she reaches out and tugs at Boscha's shirt collar with a little more force than necessary. Before she could complain about wrinkling her collar, the latina shoves her cellphone into her face. 

"Ah, now I see, " She says, nose pressing against the smooth glass. 

Willow rubs her eyes and reaches for her glasses beside her. "See what?" 

Boscha removes the cellphone from the latina's grasp and brings it to her girlfriend, squinting slightly before her eyes widen in shock. "Um, wow, that's um… wow." 

Augustus, seemingly wide awake, crawls over and peers over her shoulder curiously. Upon reading the screen, his eyebrows raise high and lips part in utter disbelief. He grabs his skull, hands messing his hair further. 

"What are you guys gaping about?" Amity asks, walking over to the cellphone they were hovering around. She checks the cellphone, finding the reason for their shocked expressions. This was certainly something. 

"How… did this happen?" Willow asks after an elongated moment of silence. 

Stammering, she discloses to them that she had merely checked her cellphone and saw hundreds of notifications from both her twitter and youtube and found her accounts blooming with new followers and subscribers. The group sat in astounded silence, unable to decipher what had happened to cause such subscribers growth. 

Suddenly, Augustus snaps his fingers and grins, "Edric! Last night, Edric was recording a video for the Blight twins channel and included me and Luz in the video. Then he gave a shout out to Luz's twitter and youtube page!"

"So the subscribers came from there?" Willow asks and Augustus nods. 

Boscha bounces from her crouching position, giving a triumphant shout and pumping her fists into the air. "YEAH! Looks like Luz is breakin' into the limelight!" she rushes over, wrapping an arm around a still frozen Luz's shoulder. "You, my friend, are gonna have to do some learnin' because this is not an easy task. Like, at all. Zero point zero simpleness-"

"Boscha! You're scaring her!" Amity scolds, walking towards the pair. "Congratulations, Luz! I take it you're really happy about this?" 

Luz doesn't respond, instead stumbling and falling backwards onto a soft marsh of pillows and blankets. She let herself embrace the softness and sunk further into the comforter. Amity rushes to her side, inquiring if she'd hurt herself from the fall. Instead, Luz dons a dopey grin and weakly raises a thumb into the air. 

This is real. And damn does it feel good.


	11. Announcement

Hello everyone. 

I don't know how to say this but, I'm unfortunately discontinuing this fanfiction. I hope you all understand. 

…

…

…

I'm kidding! Kidding! 

Seriously though, I'm not discontinuing this story. I enjoy writing this way too much and evidently, you guys love reading it! But unfortunately, I am going on hiatus for a short period. I have many personal and family issues that need attention and I cannot focus on this story while doing so. This hiatus won't be for long, I'll most likely be back in a week or so, and I promise these new chapters will not disappoint… ;)

…

Though, I will give a little information (that none of you probably care about):

I don't have ADHD so I had to do lots of research and question asking to make Luz as relatable for those who have this condition. I also gave her a somewhat present anxiety issue, simply for my own indulgence. 

The Blights are a nice, happy family. Right?

I refer to Gus by his full name because I simply like the way Augustus sounds and spells out. I also made him bisexual because I can. 

Boscha. Well, there's more to her than you think… 

...

I'd like to give a shout out to some of my biggest supports. Their encouraging words help me deliver faster and hit harder. If you're not mentioned; don't fret! I still love and appreciate you as well. 

My biggest supporters:

NickAlleg

Barcelonaboots

DerpySlurpyTheDerpMaster

Mayonaka

Artist_Kun

PolinaYuhhh

Anon-lavender

Skiddows

Sasabu

Anyways, love you all. See you later. 

-Nat


	12. AUGUSTUS PORTER

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday; a week after the birthday party. Luz and Augustus hang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reloaded due to errors. 
> 
> P. S I have a twitter account where I'm planning on posting artwork @kryptidGus. Drop bye to say a quick hello if you want. 
> 
> EDIT: I've made ART!

Luz and Augustus both sat comfortably on the living room couch, blankets covering their laps and styrofoam takeout containers balancing on their thighs. The living space was darkened with the curtains drawn close, beams of moonlight peeking from the opened spaces between the fabric. Currently, the television was playing some cheesy b-rated action-film from the early two-thousands. Luz didn't see the appeal, but Augustus was enjoying every frame of the film. 

While dropping the guests off home after the birthday party, Luz learned that the dark-skinned boy lived within thirty minutes of her current residence, meaning they could group together at each other's house on the weekends. They were both thankful; having to drive long distances to hang out would have been a hassle. 

"Oh, oh, this is the gross part!" Augustus says, voice muffled by pan seared noodles and braised pork crammed inside his mouth. He points his finger towards the screen. "This is where he breaks his leg!"

They witness a background goon's leg bend unnaturally towards his knee after going for a one-eighty-kick, having accidently made contact with a nearby bollard. Simultaneously, Luz and Augustus grimace at the dented angle the bone contorts in, both cringing in audibly sympathy. 

"Every time! I love it!" Augustus exclaims, pan noodles hanging limply outside his mouth before slurping them up and chewing.

Luz takes another spoonful of vegetable fried rice and sets the container down, deciding that she's full by the portions and slightly nauseous at the sight of the broken bone. "That is… certainly something," she remarks, unscrewing the cap of her chilled water bottle and taking a swig. 

It is strange having someone other than her mothers occupying the living room during the weekdays. Usually, Luz crams herself inside her room to record and edit videos for her weekly upload- but with the summer heat intruding into her bedroom along with the lack of air conditioning makes for an uncomfortable experience-so they're not obligated to cram themselves inside her meager-sized bedroom. The rotating fan tucked in the corner of the living space helps, though. 

Admittedly, Luz has only invited a handful of people to walk into her home before. Though, these arrangements are always for schoolwork or the occasional console multiplayer game. These interactions were always occupied with a somewhat awkward atmosphere that completely ruined any form of conversation, and she never appreciated the passive-aggressive manner of speech her guest would towards her. She would stop inviting everyone all together. 

Things change, and sometimes that change is scary. But this change was welcomed, appreciated, longed for. Exactly one month ago, she'd barely received any glances or hints of her existence among the sea of students flooding the halls, and now, she's practically a celebrity among the school district. Once someone recognized her from the Blight Twins channel, everyone seemingly loved her and wanted to be her friend; most of those are the very people bullied and ignored her throughout highschool. 

Luz huffs an amused laugh, "Way to show them." she mutters. Fascinating that everyone would flock to her side, she thinks. It's an obvious and predictable situation for an otherwise pointless fixation. At the moment, she realizes how bitter and hateful she sounds, but she can't help herself after everything that has happened. 

So she focuses her attention on Augustus who is explaining why opening shots are important in television and film. She doesn't exactly know how she ended up watching several cheesy low-budget action movies; She had merely mentioned some DVD's her mother collected from a garage sale and Augustus practically begged her to play the movies. Discussing movies with Augustus is virtually impossible because of their varying interest in such films: Luz likes more plot-driven movies meanwhile Augustus settles for action-packed explosion type movies. 

She wonders if Amity liked such movies, or if she was more into the more episodic format of television shows. 

Amity. That's all she could think about lately. It's been a luxury being able to speak with her over the phone regularly and she enjoyed her talks of family, youtuber stuff, and personal facts. She wonders if Amity has sent her another message. 

"My favorite part!" Augustus says, snapping Luz out of her thoughts. "EAT ME, BUTTERCUP!" he exclaims alongside the lead actor. He doubled over laughing, slapping his knee. After a moment, he wipes a single tear from his eye. "Ah… this will always be my favorite movie… "

Augustus turns his head, finding Luz staring off into space once more, he snaps his fingers, "Yo, Luz! You alright?"

Luz blinks rapidly and shakes her head, "Huh?"

Vague confusion twists his features momentarily before smiling, returning his attention back to the television. "You were thinking of 'her' again, weren't you?" Luz blushed, not attempting to hide her warming cheeks anymore. 

Luz didn't have the slightest clue in what her and Amity had become. Two days after her birthday party, the two of them had spontaneously agreed that they'd meet Friday night after Luz's shift for dinner. So impromptu, in fact, that Luz arrived in her work clothing consisting of a blue polo shirt and black slacks. The night was spent richly, the pair getting lost in conversation quickly, beginning with discussions about her workplace and how they started youtube, childhood experiences and what they would like to pursue after highschool. 

She'd told Amity about a dream she had that night. About how her step-mother was a powerful witch and how she herself was her human apprentice. It was so vivid that it'd stuck with her the remainder of the day and she promised herself that she'd write something related to her dream. 

"Okay, hear me out, " Augustus says, reaching for the television remote and pressing the pause button. The film stops on a frame of the lead actor wiping blood off his bottom lip, clothes wrinkled and ripped in various places from the brutal fight. Luz turns to her friend, unconsciously picking at a loose thread on her shirt. 

"You are probably the coolest person I know, "Augustus says with earnestness, placing his half eaten eggroll on the coffee table and licking his fingers clean. "I'm so glad you've found someone to love, but it's awkward hanging out with you if you're gonna daydream about your girlfriend all day."

Luz nods, heart swelling at the usage of the term "girlfriend." Truthfully, she hadn't thought about Amity as that, as they hadn't kissed or barely held hands, but it's accurate in the sense. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."

Augustus crackles, playfully smacking her arm. "Hey, I totally get it, though! No harm done." 

Relaxing and propping her legs on the coffee table, Luz gives Augustus a shy grin, nevertheless enduring a sense of being inconsiderate, accidently or not. Augustus continues eating his eggroll but doesn't reach for the television remote to resume the film. Odd, considering how engaged he'd been moments prior. 

Speaking of relationships. 

"Are you in a relationship?" Luz suddenly asks, curiosity building within her. Really, she should've asked this question when they decided to learn more about one another with a game of two truths and a lie, but that felt a little more personal and she didn't want to overstep any boundaries. 

Augustus gives a shy smile, humming in affirmation. Though, to what exactly, Luz doesn't know. "Iiiiii might be seeing someone," he says, sounding just as if not more cheeky than Boscha. A feat she thought was impossible to achieve. Augustus says nothing afterwards, so Luz decides not to pry any further. 

"Have you two planned something else?" Augustus inquires, finishing off his eggroll. 

Luz fiddles with her hands, unconsciously picking at a hangnail on her index finger. "We're having dinner at her place on Saturday."

"Ah," Augustus replies. "That's why you're daydreaming."

She breathes out a sigh, "I'm nervous. I'm gonna have to meet her mom, too." Family dynamics was something she strayed from with Amity as she did not know her relationship with her parents. The green haired girl seemed reluctant to speak about her homemade, only giving sparse details about her experience. Luz made a mental note to not bring the subject up in future discussions. "I don't know what to do, how to act… what should I do?"

Immediately, Luz regrets asking her question when Augustus' lips turn upward into an insufferably cheeky grin. She is about to chide him for his playfulness when he lifts his forefinger to her lips. "Shush," he says, raising his own finger to his lips. She giggles. 

"You should… " He slowly says. "...be yourself, but more… professional."

"Professional?"

"Yes," He nods "The Blight parents are sophisticated people. Just nod along with them and everything will go smoothly."

"You've had dinner with the Blights before?"

Augustus confirms with a nod. "I have been subjected to that torture, yes. Mostly because Willow and Boscha insisted." He takes a drink of his own chilled water, before saying, "Mr. Blight does know how to make a meal, I'll give him that."

Luz chuckles, returning her attention back to the film when Augustus unpaused. The film had seemingly entered it's cinematic climax inside a dilapidated warehouse filled with firearms and bad guys. What exactly was happening? Why were they holding a peacock hostage? Admittedly, she can't remember much of the film aside from it's awful dialogue and storytelling. 

Though, Augustus seems enthusiastic about the film, genuinely engaged with the less than favorable product. She'll try to pay more attention next time, but it isn't guaranteed. 

…

…

Standing on the stone patio steps, Luz tiredly waves goodbye as Augustus' dad drives away in a black SUV, disappearing around the street corner. Luz began her trek up the wooden stairs, her tired body exacerbated by the takeout and water filling his stomach. She longs to lie down in her bed- to snuggle beneath her weight blanket and let sleep overtake her- but she had to do her nightly routine. 

Walking into her room to retrieve her nightwear, her knees crash into something hard and she topples onto the hardwood floor, a string of profanities rolling off her tongue. Well, she somehow left her computer chair sitting vertically against the bedroom door. Hopefully the crash didn't disturb her mother's sleep. Rising from the floor, she rubs her knees and maneuvers past the chair and grabs her nightwear. 

Luz trudges to the bathroom, tugging her polo shirt over her head and tossing it in the hamper. While she removed her socks- she hated wearing socks, they were uncomfortable- her phone vibrated inside her pocket. 

She takes her phone from her pocket before sluggishly shimmying out of her trousers. Unwilling to flick the lightswitch to actually see her movements, she moves her shoes to the side and haphazardly tosses her remaining clothes in the general direction of the hamper. Her mother would scold her in the morning, but at this point she was too tired to care. 

After brushing her teeth and showering, Luz unlocks her phone and sees a notification headlined with the name "Amity Blight" and smiles. She lowers the brightness of the screen and crawls into bed, pulling the heavy blanket over herself. Reaching for the charging cable besides her nightstand, she grabs it and connects the cord into her cellphone. 

She taps on the notification and opens the text bar. 'I'm sorry for not calling tonight. I had something personal to tend to', The message says. 'Today has been a hassle.'

Eyelids getting heavy, Luz writes out her response. 'I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk?'

It takes a moment before Amity's response. 'Not at the moment. Though, I'm looking forward to seeing you again'.

Luz feels heat rising to her cheeks and finds herself grinning stupidly. She types out: 'I am too. Goodnight.' 

Another moment. 'Goodnight :)'

She presses the off button and places her cellphone on the nightstand. Rolling onto her side and propping her pillow properly, Luz manages to fall into a peaceful slumber, her dreams filled with blissful happiness and warmth.


	13. NOCEDA AND BLIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its Thursday. Luz and Amity have an impromptu date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 👁👁

Luz spends more time organizing her bookshelves than she should, but she is set on making sure her bedroom looks neat and orderly, regardless of whether Amity will search every nook and cranny during her visit. Satisfied with the order of Azura novels and paperbacks, she steps away from the shelf and gives the bedroom a quick scan to ensure everything is properly placed. She nods to herself before practically breaking into a sprint, heading downstairs and into the kitchen. 

Just before school this morning, Luz received a message from Amity about coming to her house later to spend time together. These spar of the moment meet-ups and agreements were nothing out-of the ordinary, as it had happened almost three times already. It was Amity's first time visiting her house, as everything they had been together was elsewhere, so Luz decided that she'd prepare something special for the girl for her first visit. 

Currently, her mothers were at work, so Luz needn't worry about any interruptions or distractions. 

Opening the oven door, she is met with tomato based vapor billowing into her face. She smiles at the complex spices filling her nostrils and the sight of melted cheese. She's not a fantastic chef, but after years of watching her mother prepare enchiladas de pollo she'd say she recreated it perfectly. At least, from what her eyes and nose are telling her. 

Placing on oven mitts and grabbing the dish towel from the oven handle, she carefully removes the pan from the heating rack and places it onto the countertop, gently nudging the door close with her foot. Grabbing the broomstick from the closet, she gives the kitchen and living space another sweep to ensure there isn't any lingering dust on the hardwood. The doorbell chimes from across the house and she smiles instantly. Placing the broomstick back inside the storage closet and flattening any wrinkles upon her clothing, she makes her way to the front door.

She tugs the door open and finds Amity is standing opposite of her, sleek sunglasses perched on her nose and black-cuffed beanie covering her hair. She wore casual clothing- a leather-jacket with jeans, the color around the seamings having washed away slightly more than the rest, and purple high-top sneakers. Without much thought, Luz shifts forward and embraces the girl. Amity leans in, wrapping her arms around Luz's torso and leaning into her shoulder. The embrace feels strangely natural, like they've practiced this for years. 

The embrace ends and they part. Amity smiles sheepishly. "Hey," 

"Hey!" Luz replies smoothly, stepping aside to allow her in. Amity steps past the threshold, pulling off her beanie once she hears the door shut with a muted thud. 

"I'm sorry for all this," Amity says, pulling off her sunglasses and folding them gently. She removes her jacket, using two fingers to dangle the garment from it's neck loop as she waits to be escorted into the kitchen. "It's kinda hard to be outside when you're so noticeable." she scrunched her nose. "Wait, that came out wrong-"

"It's okay, I totally get it," she says. "I'm happy you're even here."

Amity let out a laugh, ducking her head to possibly hide her smothering grin. She looks around the house, glancing across the standard living space and cramped kitchen. Luz feels somewhat self-conscious, as the green-haired girl has most-likely since more decadence, but she pushes the thought away. 

"Make yourself at home!" She says, gesturing towards the sofa and television set with an open hand. "I'm gonna go prepare the plates. Do you need anything?"

"Oh, no thank you," Amity says. She excuses herself as she rests on the sofa. 

Luz makes her way into the kitchen and approaches the sink, lathering her hands with soap and giving them a quick rinse, drying her hands on with a dish towel hanging on the oven handle. She then moves to attend to the baking dish, opening the cabinet besides the sink and grabbing two dinner plates. She sets them down before grabbing a metal spatula and scooping out the enchiladas. 

While she prepares the meals- forming a bed of rice for the enchiladas, placing the enchiladas atop, then adding a spoonful of sour-cream- she notices her guest peering at the family photographs lining the banister above the television. A small smile crosses her face as she watches the green-haired girl handle a photograph of herself from elementary school, hair-styled in messy pigtails and toothy grin plastered on her face. 

She places the plates on the reculanger kitchen table, steaming escaping from inside the food. She opts to begin setting the table, placing down napkins, glass cups and cutlery besides the plates. A few minutes pass before she hears footsteps approaching her and Luz pauses in bringing out chilled beverages to look over her shoulder. 

Amity strides causally, stopping in the doorway and glancing around the kitchen, "You've prepared all of this?" 

Luz smiles, pouring herself and her guest- such a bland word- a glass of ice-water. "It's nothing much, really."

She laced her fingers, smiling warmly, "I think it's amazing."

Her heart flutters. 

A silence falls over the pair, and although it isn't unwelcomed, Luz would much rather wear Amity's voice instead of the cluttered noise of cutlery and clinking glasses. "I'm sorry we didn't speak for long last night," the green-haired girl suddenly spoke. "I haven't had the time recently."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Luz assures. "If you want to, you can talk to me about it."

"Uh," Amity says, and Luz could hear the smallest morsel of bitterness lacing her voice. "My parents and I had an argument. I was pretty frustrated and needed time to cool down. "

Luz drifts her gaze to Amity, feeling the air shift from comfortable and smooth to mildly awkward and sorrowful. Hesitatingly, she asks, "What happened?"

With that question, Amity's expression appears to be in terrible pain and she backpedals soon after the question. "Oh no, I'm sorry! You don't have to answer that."

"No, you… you are fine. I'm, uh… " Amity says, voice wavering. She blinks rapidly, preventing tears to roll down her face. They stay where they are. "My parents want to enroll me into some pretressage university in Oregon. The university declined my application and they sorta went ballistic and… " she trails off, determining the correct words to say. Luz waits. 

Sighing, Amity turns her head away, gazing at the floor. "They were basically calling me a disappointment. They didn't say outright but… it's what they were implying." 

Luz isn't one to display angry outfront, preferring to suppress these strong feelings by focusing on something positive rather than negative. But hearing this information coming from her friend is enough to make her blood simmer in absolute rage and resentment. 

Their gazes meet each other and quickly after Amity releases a chortle,laughing humorlessly at herself. "I'm sorry. I didn't come here to use you as a therapist." she rubs her forehead with thumb and index finger, sighing. 

The room falls silent, and Luz ponders what she should do, what she could say. 

Hesitantly, she reaches for Amity's hand, slowly intertwining her fingers with the other girl's. Amity, eyebrows raised and lips parted slightly, flips her hand over and returns the gesture. Luz is surprised by how much larger her hand is compared to Amity's, but it's a welcomed surprise. 

She gives her hand a compassionate squeeze, apologizing for asking about the subject in the first, and says, "Please don't be sorry for telling me this. If you need me, I'll be there."

A moment passes, but eventually Amity gives a grateful smile and gingerly rests her free hand atop the latina's. It takes a moment before either of them speak, but Amity is the first to fill the silence. 

"Thank you," She says, her voice genuine. 

"It's not a problem."

Tentatively, she untangled her fingers from Luz's, brushing back loose strands of hair from her brow. She smiles warmly at her. 

"Now, let's eat. I worked really hard on this."

Amity gives a hearty laugh. "I'm sure."

…

There is nothing more satisfying than having one enjoy your home-cooked meal. This is evident by the look of pure content crossing Amity's face. 

Luz busies herself by packing the leftovers into plastic containers, rinsing out the basin of the rice cooker, and placing used dishes into soapy dishwater. Amity had insisted she help lessen the workload and Luz rejected the offer almost immediately, explaining that someone shouldn't have to do such things when invited to another's home. 

It's when she stacks the containers and places them inside the refrigerator that she hears the television turn on, loudly playing reruns of The Simpsons. Luz looks over her shoulder, watching the green-haired girl flicker through different channels before finally settling on old MMA match-up. Making her way into the living room, she gently sits down besides Amity. 

"Y'know, I actually used to take boxing lessons," Amity says, twirling her green locks around her fingers. "It was for protection, but I never actually used what I learned."

"That's sick!" Luz says grinning. "I always wanted to do stuff like that! I'd be so cool!"

A few moments pass, the pair watching the dark-skinned fighter uppercut his opponent who falls limply to the mat. The commenters are barely audible among the screeching of the large crowd seated behind them. A hand is placed on her thigh, and Luz turns her head to find Amity gazing at her. "I could teach you some things if you'd like."

Luz smiles. 

…

She crouches down and pushes the sofa towards the far-right corner, then proceeds to scoot the coffee table besides the television set. She then removes her shoes, placing them beside the doorway and cuffed her shirt sleeves. Amity approaches wordlessly, unraveling her hair-tie and gathering her hair to fix it more securely. The chances of her winning are extremely slim, considering she's never dabbled in mixed martial arts. 

"I wanna see what you know before I can teach you anything," Amity says and Luz nods. 

Standing far apart, they ready themselves, their feet planted firmly on the hardwood floor and knees carefully bent. Amity keeps her elbow towards her center while Luz's is pushed forwards towards her opponent. She shifts her stance, foot sliding sideways in front of her. 

Amity is the first to move, lunging forward with a close-hand strike at her torso, which Luz quickly evades with a side step. They return to their position and she immediately reciprocates with her own prod, her knuckles landing firmly on Amity's left shoulder. A hiss of pain escapes her and she smiles. They continue this way for a short time, each of them missing most attempts yet landing a strike when the other stumbles. Luz is nimble and quick on her feet meanwhile Amity is more rooted and firm. 

The lunging strikes slowly devolve into grappling, where the sensation of Amity's strong arms around her midsection is nothing short of titillating. Sweat has begun to gather around their hairlines, dripping down their foreheads, flowing down their cheekbones. Everytime they grappled, Luz could hear the other's ragged breathing and she was well aware that the sweat developing around her body was more than the physical activity occurring. 

Standing, her socked feet were struggling to remain rooted because of the smooth flooring. She stumbles, and Amity uses the opportunity to loop her leg around her own and brings her down into a controlled fall. She barely hurts herself because of how careful she'd been. Landing on back, Amity flips her over and straddles her from behind. Luz groans, kicking her legs in an attempt to escape her hold before frantically tapping her fingers against the floor. 

Amity releases and she slips out of the headlock, rolling onto her back and cradling her heaving chest. They stay there for a few moments, silent. The quiet atmosphere only interrupted by the sound of labored breathing. Luz makes an effort to focus on her breathing, trying to stabilize it's rhythm and trying to ignore the warmth building in her chest and abdomen. 

Amity pulls herself from the ground, crouching over and offering a clammy hand to the latina. She takes it and sits up, using her free hand to lift herself off the floor. She crouches over, hand clutching her chest to steady her drumming heart. For a few moments, they stand there, both focusing on their breathing before it steadies itself. Luz returns to an upright posture, standing so closely she could feel the other's body heat radiating from her. 

She gazed into the green-haired girl's eyes and grinned, forehead slick with sweat. She glances towards her cheeks, counting her faint freckles, watching the fluttering of her eyebrows and admiring her golden speckled eyes. 

Without thinking, Luz hastily grabs Amity's face and presses their faces together, their lips crashing together in a sloppy, fevered kiss. She brings her hands to Amity's back and grips her t-shirt, holding onto it as if it were a lifeline. Amity quickly reciprocates, earning a muffled whine as she trails her tongue across Luz's bottom lip. Luz's nose digs into her cheekbone, trying impossibly to bring themselves closer. 

She memorizes every detail of this experience; the sheer heat running through her body, the soft lips pushing onto hers, and taste of her mouth. Her face is nothing short of pure bliss. 

It is inevitable, however, that they part. Luz lets out a shuddering sigh as their lips part with a lightly smack. Amity's eyes are still squeezed shut, and she gently rests her forehead against Luz's, eyelids remaining closed as she breathed heavily through her nose. Luz nuzzles into her, running her hands along the curve of her spine and cradling her waist. 

"You're not so bad at fighting," Amity says, hands cradling the latina's neck. 

Luz simply chuckles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this even a YouTuber au anymore lol


	14. LUZ NOCEDA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday. Luz visits the Blight household for dinner. Though, something seems off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell my sister has found my fanfiction.
> 
> And she likes it?
> 
> Also enjoy. Because it only goes downhill from here.

The cool, evening air breezing past her as she descends down the sidewalk of her neighborhood does little to burn the lingering tingle of uncertainty resting in her stomach. While having been invited to the Blight household before- this is the first time Luz has been invited without the comforting assurance of her new-found friends, and the thought brings a strange pressure building within her. 

It doesn't help that communication with Amity had dwindled since her last visit, several of her messages having been left unanswered and their nightly conversations have seemingly died down to brief sentances. The suddenness makes her feel confused, and she doesn't know what to expect when she arrives for dinner. Amity's confirmation that, yes, she is still greatly welcomed for dinner that evening did alleviate the constant nagging in her mind, but only by a margin. 

Another several meters down the neighboring road and she arrives at the bus-stop, both shocked and relieved to find it's seats unoccupied by any travelers. Removing her backpack and pulling out her earbuds, she quickly unlocks her phone and swipes through her music playlist, clicking on shuffle and closing the app. A random anime opening played inside her ears and she unconsciously hummed along as she scrolled through twitter. 

Her number of new followers increased over the week since the birthday party, most inquiring about herself and shouting support in her favor. Yesterday, she recorded and uploaded a video dedicated to her new-found supporters and thanking them for their kindness. The video received nearly double the average amount of views she usually gets, boosting to almost four-hundred thousand views and nearly surpassing her most viewed video. 

She noticed how people- particularly teenagers- would gawk and stare when walking down the sidewalk or shopping inside stores. There had been moments where individuals would interrupt her shopping with giddy smiles and shaking hands, nervously asking if they could take photographs alongside her. She compiled, of course, wanting to please her supporters and to generally not come off as rude if denied. 

Three songs had played before a rumbling engine filled her eardrums. She removed her earbuds and grabbed her backpack, adjusting the straps with a shrug of her shoulders, before handing the driver her bus-ticket and boarding the vehicle. She was thankful for the money Boscha had gifted her, though, she had yet to purchase anything with said money- besides the bus-ticket, of course. There were plenty of things she had on her purchase list, but she didn't exactly know where to start. 

Maybe she'd buy some new shoes. Her old skool vans were getting worn. 

There were a fair number of people seated on the bus already, though, a few ignorant individuals had placed their shopping bags and items on the seat besides them, preventing someone from seating themselves next to them. Luz groaned, finding all other seats occupied and forcing her to stand. She grabs the leather pulley, her grip tight to ensure she would stumble during the shaking ride. She fingers brush over the leather in a circle pattern, calming her jittery nerves. 

The engine purrs and after a moment, the bus closes its door and drives down the road, striking several potholes and debris that make Luz internally groan in irritation and discomfort. The drive to the downtown area plus the additional stops for passengers creates an almost forty minute ride, in which she'd have to stand a good portion of. She groans again, this time, audibly. 

"I know you!" a young voice shouts. 

Everyone's attention is diverted from their mindless gazes and Luz quickly turns her head to find the source of the outburst, finding a young child no older than seven or eight staring at her in awe, chin length hair pulled back from his face and practically bouncing besides a rather tall man. His grin, interrupted by two missing teeth, stretched across his face. 

"Daddy! It's the youtuber I was talking about!" he exclaims, tugging on his father's t-shirt. "It's Luzura!"

Admittedly caught off guard, Luz stammers and tries to compose an answer. Suddenly, she's hyper aware of the attention being drawn towards her, the other passengers itching to get more information about this supposed 'youtuber' this child was getting eager about. 

"Daniel," the man- presumably his father- starts, voice patient yet firm. He placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder. "We do not shout in public."

The statement earns a brief pout from the boy, his expression bleeding into his words, "I know. I'm just excited to see her."

She regains her composure and clears her throat, smiling warmly. "No, no, it's fine. How are you, Daniel?" 

The boy immediately perks up, grin returning once more, "I'm fine, Ms. Luz! I saw you on the Blight channel and you're really funny!" he says with such enthusiasm that it makes her nervousness instantly melt. "I wanna ask you some questions- no, wait, wait! Can you sign my toy?!"

He reaches inside his backpack and retrieves a plastic G.I Joe figurine, it's painted clothing chipping off from excessive use. Underneath it's boot-clad foot has the name "Daniel" written in both upper and lowercase letters. Luz finds it greatly endearing. He reaches inside his bag again and pulls out a black marker, handing it to her eagerly. 

Luz turns to his father, silently looking for approval. He nods in agreement and she gently takes the items from the boy's petite hands. Mindfully, she grips the figurine and writes her signature on it in loopy handwriting. She finishes off the signature with a small heart and hands the boy his toy and marker back. 

The boy takes his items back and thanks her dearly, jumping from his seat and embracing her in a momentary hug. It takes every ounce of willpower for her to not burst into tears from the obscenely kind gesture and gratitude. Though, he removes himself from her before she could return the embrace. 

The boy, bubbly, now returns to his father's side who gives a kind, though slightly bewildered smile before the bus stops at yet another bus-station. The father and son make their way off, the young child giving another frantic wave before exiting the vehicle. The interaction served to both rid herself of any anxiety and feel her heart with intense glee and happiness. 

She hopes it can stay that way. 

…

Stepping off the bus, she immediately heads west and starts down the busy sidewalk, squeezing through clusters of people arriving at their workplaces and shopping inside many shops lining the street. The neighborhood where Amity lived was in walking distance- or in her definition of it. She wasn't particularly against walking longer distances than most. 

Yet another hundred meters down the winding road and she arrives at the large, two story home shaded by nature oak trees. She quickens her pace, walking between an Aston Martin and Black Sedan, mindful of avoiding the side mirrors of the pristine cars. Without the party decorations, the residence looks like your average wealthy house that her mother would watch getting re-done on those awful television shows. 

Luz steps forward and knocks on the door. Faintly, she could hear the pattering of feet approaching towards the front-door and stopped for a few moments, something rustling behind the spruce doors. Within moments, the door swings open, Luz coming face to face with a head of dark green-hair. 

"Hello, Edric, " she greets, giving a smile wave. 

"Hey, Luz!" Edric replies, lips spreading from ear to ear. She steps backwards and pulls the door with him, practically bouncing as he invites Luz into the warmly lit home. She thanks him and he bows slightly with the air to a loyal guest to the regent before running down the hallway, rounding the corner and giggling. Luz shuts the door behind her, her nostrils immediately stricken by the armoua of grilled fish and roasting vegetables. 

Edric announces Luz's arrival, but his voice is drowned out by the sound of a nearby television and oil sizzling in a large saucepan. 

Removing her shoes and placing her backpack besides them, she heads towards the living-space. The area is moderately-sized compared to the kitchen and is sparsely decorated. A fluffy sofa lined against the far-right wall with a brown coffee table in the center, three large bookshelves besides the largest flat-screen television she'd ever seen. The screen is bright and colorful as some sitcom she doesn't recognize plays. 

"Evening, Luz," greets a voice from the sofa that, admittedly, startles Luz. 

Leaning over the back, she looks at the sofa to find a reclining Emira, arms resting underneath her head and feet propped up on the armrest. Though, her hair is unkempt. Strange. She's always appeared quite neatly and orderly. Emira looks in her direction and raises a hand in a friendly hello. Luz smiles without thinking about it. 

"Hey, Em!" She says, moving towards her. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine," Emira says with little hesitation, bringing a fist to her mouth and coughing, the sound light and clear. "Though, I could be better. My allergies are killing me." 

Luz grimaces instinctively, feeling slightly pained at the expression contorting her face. How rosy her cheeks are, how congested her voice sounded when speaking. At any other time, she would be perfectly content, but that doubt still lingers in her chest. "I'm okay," she says unconvincingly, and apparently Emira doesn't take notice of this. 

Emira responds with a nod, smiling softly. "Good to hear."

With a muttered goodbye, Luz excuses herself and heads in the direction of the kitchen, rounding the corner into the hall and passing the dining room. Inside the kitchen stands Amity, back turned towards the stove and moving something around with a spatula. Besides her, Edric bounces light and whispers something into his sister's ear that makes her groan. 

She approaches wordlessly, pressing and running her palm along her spine and- with new-found confidence- drifts her head to press a peck against Amity's cheek. "Hey," she says smoothly. 

Amity, however, barely reacts, not leaning into the touch and only murmuring a small "hey" in response. 

Something forms inside Luz's stomach. 

She tries not to think about it. 

Awkwardly, she removes her hand from the girl's back but still remains close to her side. She watches as Amity slips a spatula underneath the fish topped with fresh thyme leaves. In one swift motion, Amity flips the fish over and presses it down against the hot skillet, listening to the loud sizzling before covering the pan with a glass lid. 

"What are you making?"

Amity looks over to Luz, appearing slightly drowsy. "Pan-seared Haddock," she states simply, both expression and voice appearing distant. "It's my favorite." 

"I've never tried it before," Luz says, eyes trailing the condensation clinging to the underside of the lid. "It smells great!" 

A smile graces Amity's lips, and it's enough to make Luz feel slightly better about this ordeal. "Thanks," she starts, stepping backwards and opening the oven doors, a roasting tray hosting vegetables at the bottom rack. "It's almost done. I hope you like carrots."

Truthfully, Luz doesn't enjoy carrots all that much- the crunchy texture bothers her greatly- but she doesn't have to heart to tell her that. Though, the flavourful vapors emitting from the oven makes her stomach grumble slightly. 

Amity carefully closes the oven-door and removes the glass lid, the sizzling having died. Steam flows from the pan and evaporates after a quick moment. "This is the last thing," she says, gesturing towards the vegetables roasting inside the oven, "so it will be finished soon." 

"I'm looking forward to it," 

Amity gives a terse nod, and Luz is unsure of the girl's distant disposition. It's difficult for her to decipher whether it's her mind singling out false alarms or if there actually is a stretching expanse between them. 

Turning her head, her eyes catch a pile of opened envelopes tucked away in the corner between a cabinet, the topmost being a vibrant, light blue parcel covered in handwritten signature. Even from her distance, she can clearly see whose name is written on the front. Curiosity gnaws at her as she wonders what could be written inside the envelope, but the thought alone is a gross invasion and disregard of privacy. 

"Could you please help set the table?" 

Pulled from her thoughts, Luz turns to Amity and finds a tray of plates held in the girl's hands. Holding out her own, she readily accepts the request, taking a glance at Amity's face and finding it strangely unreadable. She isn't quite sure what to make of it, so she quickly pardons herself to the dining room to prevent any further overanalyzing the situation. 

Passing through the kitchen and into the dining room, Luz discovers Emira already seated at the table, her fingers rapidly typing on the smooth glass of her cell-phone. "Oh, uh, hey again," she greets, setting the tray atop the large dining table. 

"Hey again," Emira replies with an amused smile, pausing in her typing and placing her cell-phone screen-side up on the table. Something inside Luz feels regretful, as if she had intruded on something without proper invitation. "You can continue with- whatever you were doing. You don't have to stop because of me," she says, unstacking the plates and divvying up the dishes. 

"It's not a problem," Emira responds, an amused and slightly confused expression on her face, one brow furrowed and the other raised. "I was just passing the time."

Oh. 

Well, now she feels foolish. 

Though, she hardly blames her for waiting; the smell of fresh fish streaming throughout the dining room is simply intoxicating. She says this and Emira agrees, mentioning that her younger sister is somewhat skilled in the culinary arts. She eventually sits herself, claiming a seat besides the older girl. It's a mindless conversation, trading the simple small talk about everyday life and their youtube channels. Emira admits that she and her brother started the Blight channel in spite of her younger sibling's success in the field, but then eventually grew to love and appreciate their new-found support. 

Emira is certainly a nice individual, easily compassionate and generous- albeit prone to playful pleasing. 

As they chat, it's clear that Amity hasn't told her siblings of their encounter on Thursday. It's likely for the best, as it would invade both her and Amity's privacy. And she, personally, wouldn't want to deal with the everlasting teasing every time she visited the residence.

Within moments, however, an older woman enters the space with lands laced respectfully behind her. She wore a lace dress- all brilliant purple, with cuffed shoulder pads and with a golden-chained necklace with a beautiful emerald embedded in the center. Her face is tight, wrinkles of age surrounding her eyes and underneath her cheeks. She turns her head towards Luz, blinking a few times. 

"Noceda," she introduces herself, her aura emanating an elegant quality that makes Luz feel like she's almost in the presence of royalty. She extends a manicured hand for a shake. 

Luz takes her hand, finding her grip firm just as her husband's. She thinks of Augustus' advice from their hangout on Wednesday and meets the women's dull eyes. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you." 

The woman hardly reacts, lips pursed. "Likewise." she turns her head, gazing into her daughter's eyes, "Emira."

Emira nods, her expression unreadable, "Mother."

Something is off about her posture and speaking since her mother arrived. Luz desperately wants to pry for answers, but she decides it's best to keep the questions to herself. 

Moments later, Mr. Blight rounds the corner dressed in a similar fashion, his dark suit seemingly glinting underneath the fluorescent lights. "Alice," he says, a somewhat forced smile tugging at his lips. "A shame I haven't seen you since last Thursday." he pauses, then goes on, "Are you wearing a new perfume? It smells positively divine."

She chortles, a smirk appearing on her face. "Shameless flirt." 

To that, Mr. Blight gives a chuckle. 

They seat themselves at the dining table accordingly: Mr. And Ms. Blight sitting opposite of each other at the far-right end, Emira seated beside Luz with an empty chair on her left for Edric, and another empty chair facing opposite of them both, presumably for Amity. While they wait, Luz absentmindedly fiddles with a loose thread on the placement she's seated on, her mind caught between pulling until it comes off or leaving the piece be. 

Though, before she could decide, Amity enters the space carrying a large wooden platter in both hands, the tray heavy with grilled fish, vegetables, and hand-mashed potatoes. Carefully, she lowers the tray onto the table- mindfully as to not knock over any empty glasses. She begins to serve dinner, divvying out a fair amount of the food she so carefully prepared. 

A container of red pepper-flakes rests next to the grilled fish, though that seems to be entirely for Edric who sprinkles an unnecessary amount of the flakes onto his fish. 

She finds herself highly fascinated by the way the pepper flakes dance above the hot surface, morphing and fluttering with the rising steam. She makes a brief comment about the flakes, and Edric responds with mutual enthusiasm. Saying how he enjoys watching them dance, even though he doesn't particularly like the strong, fishy smell. 

Luz would have to disagree- being an avid fan of both shell-fish and crustaceans herself- but she finds something oddly amusing about his sour reaction. 

Amity seats herself opposite from her, adjusting her utensils and fixing the place-mat. Luz can't help but notice the way she holds herself in her seat, her posture rigid and firm. The distant atmosphere she emitted since Luz's arrival had only grown in their short time apart. While Emira and Edric held a lengthy conversation discussing new ideas for their channel- Emira mentioning the should divert more attention towards their commentary channel elements- Amity had not spoken a word. Her expression was unreadable, and her shoulders sat tense, as if she could burst in anxiousness at any moment. 

Once more, she worries that she's overanalyzing everything, but the longer she sits there, the clearer the looming tension becomes. Because of this, Luz finds herself unable to relax, noticing how much of a concerted effort Amity was doing to appear unbothered and relaxed, even if her distant disposition is apparent to only Luz herself. 

She wonders if she did anything wrong; or if their interaction on Thursday had something to do with it. 

She waits to begin eating, wanting to be as polite as possible, even in protest of her rumbling stomach in response to the fragrant smell of roasted vegetables and salty soy-sauce. Lacing his hands, Mr. Blight does a quick prayer, his wife and children repeating the phrase before quicking cutting into their meals. Luz repeats as well, using her utensils to carefully cut and scoop a piece of fish. She savours her first bite, gluing her eyes to her plate as Mrs. Blight scolds Edric for talking with his mouth full. 

Even when seated opposite of her, Amity barely acknowledges her existence, merely chewing her food with a tight jar and fingers wrapped more tightly than necessary around her utensils. 

Luz just wished she knew what she did wrong, or if at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got four-hundred likes on a tweet and I suddenly think I'm twitter famous.


	15. BOSCHA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a week later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry I've been so inconsistent with this story.

It is inevitable that, the moment the glass double-doors open, they shop would experience a seemingly everlasting burst of customers over the day. It may be a rather humid Sunday in question, but it isn't enough to stop the store from flooding in the front entrance, patrons eager to test the newest technology being released within the shoppe. 

With a bittersweet taste in her mouth, she closes her locker after placing her belongings inside and shrugs her shoulders. She's certain she looks weary as she did in the mirror that morning- eyelids heavy, eye bags, shoulders slouched- but her boss, Mr. Belos hardly looks any better. Dark hair pulled back into a straggled bun, dark circles beneath his eyes, wrinkles deep and that everlasting frown affixed to his face.

And for as blunt and unforgiving he can be, Mr. Belos makes it a point to be as cordial as a manager and authority figure as possible. Today, though, his customer service finds itself wanting, his usual outsider politeness showing but his interactions kept brief and in-remarkable. Typically, he engages in small talk with most patrons despite his loathing of such interactions being referred to, in his words, "Mindless conversation with irrelevant people". 

Regardless, Luz tries her best to focus on the task at hand, doing her best to compensate for her co-worker's absence and handle the influx of customers invading the store. Unfortunately, despite her hard work, Luz seems to be feeding off of anxiousness and worry, and after her third hour, her legs are about ready to collapse beneath her. 

In spite of the evening spent with the Blight family, she hasn't heard a word from Amity since she- awkwardly- invited her for a home-cooked meal. Luz left a singular message that went read but unresponded. Because of this, Luz feels as if an important piece of her being had been taken, as if she had lost something. It makes her want to curl beneath her bedsheets and blair anime music in her ears. 

His hands rest folded against his stomach, the wrinkled-free dress shirt buttoned above. His shoulders squared, back straight, and head held high. Admittedly, Luz is impressed by how intensely Mr. Belos commands a room. 

"Ms. Noceda," Mr. Belos says, stopping in front of the cable cabinet, giving a slight nod. His face is unreadable, but she could notice the slight knot suddenly forming on his forehead as he speaks. "You appear quite fatigued today."

"Hello, Mr. Belos," Luz greets, feeling herself sag even more than she had already been, yet Belos looks unfazed when he returns his gaze to the young lady. If anything, the line between Belos' brows became slightly deeper and something flashed in his irises. Concern, perhaps? "I didn't get the best rest last night. But I promise, it won't show with my work today-"

"Hey! Luz!" 

The shout for attention is so resounding that it draws the attention of nearly every patron browsing around the shop for a few very confused moments. Luz's brows furrow deeply as she gazes around in the midst of removing the protective display casing from atop a cellphone, scanning the store for the voice. At the far side of the room, a girl cups on hand besides her mouth and the other holding a slushie, red-hair tired back into identical ponytails and sleek sunglasses perched on her nose. 

Boscha. 

She appears to be completely unfazed by the stares of the people around her, some voicing hushed exclamations of awe and bewilderment. She peers over to where Luz is standing, fervently waving her hand as if the latina was already gawking at her sudden appearance. 

Distractingly, Luz unhooks the zip-tie binding around the cellphone and pulls it from the casing, quicking switching her eyes towards Boscha who strides with confidence. Mr. Belos looks at her in silent questioning, the crease between his eyebrows deepening. She certain that, without words, they are both thinking the same thing. 'What is she doing?'

"Yo, Luz, " Boscha greets with a wink, resting her elbow against the display casing besides her. 

"Boscha, what are you doing her-" 

Mr. Belos steps forward, his built frame looming over and casting a slight shadow behind her, "Excuse me, but the sign outside clearly states that drinks are prohibited inside the shop," he starts, pointing his finger towards the entrance doors. "I will have to ask you to leave or discard the drink." 

Boscha's expression is unreadable, eyelids hooded and gaze unwavering. Without hesitation, she brings the straw to her lips and takes a slow, elongated drink of her peach and mango beverage. She turns her head, licks her lips, and asks, "Who is this guy, Luz?"

At that very moment, Luz wouldn't mind if the sun exploded millions of light-years away and crashed into the planet because anything is better than the expression morphing Belos' face. 

"Ms. Noceda, " he starts, lacing his hands together. "You are associated with her?" 

She nervously laughs, eyebrows raising only slightly and lips pulling into an awkward smile, crooked and teeth barely showing. She ducks her head timidly, "Yes, she is. Though, I don't know why exactly she's here… " she accompanied her sentence with a glare towards the red-haired girl's direction who merely grinned in return. 

He opens his mouth before deciding against it, shaking his head and pointing towards the entrance once more. "Please, deal with," he gestures towards Boscha. "her. Quickly." Even with this distraction, he still remains in the confines of professionalism. 

She straightens her posture and steps forward, tapping Boscha's shoulder and motioning for her to follow. Everyone else in the shop ruminates over the widely recognizable face, rough whispers of disbelief sounding from the younger patrons of the store. She attempts to recenter her focus on scolding the other girl, but it's becoming increasingly difficult due to the burrowing stares she senses behind her. 

The wind is chilly but gentle- the light scent of petrichor lingered through the air, sweeping through the breeze. Luz hardly notices the low temperature breezing over her skin, having always had high tolerance to such climates. People fluttered along the pavement- their footsteps barely audible over the sound of passing vehicles. Boscha turns to her, smirk plastered on her face. 

'Cheeky little shit,' She thinks to herself before groaning audibly, running a hand along her face. 

"Hey," she says, her grin transforming from pleasant to downright cheeky. Her sunglasses glint beneath the shining sun above. 

She physically prevents herself from pinching the bridge of her pointed nose. "Why," she asks, the words disgruntled yet light, "Why did you do that?" 

"Wanted to talk to ya' and I didn't know your address," Boscha replies, sipping her beverage and smacking her lips against her straw. "Wanna get some lunch? My treat."

"It's not even lunch hours?"

"It's never too early for lunch." Boscha replies, speaking in a highly serious tone. 

Her scowl softens into a neutral expression, furrowing her eyebrows and ducking her head slightly. "Yeah, i'll go see what my boss says… " 

She shuffles forward, feet slightly dragging behind her and hands tucked inside her pockets. If she's being truthful, ditching her workplace in place in favor of free lunch was something that crossed her mind when asked of the offer. She would have surely been fired; but the prospect of free burgers and fries sounded sufficiently more interesting than working inside a stuffy technology shop. 

"Luz?" 

Interrupted from her thoughts, Luz shifts her body around to find Boscha staring at her. The red-haired girl had placed her beverage on the ground beside her and raised her sunglasses so they'd be resting over her hairline. An emotion is morphing her expression, but Luz isn't entirely sure what said emotion is. 

"You okay?" Boscha asks, her smile faulting slightly. "You look tired."

She ducks her head slightly and a few loose strands fall forward. Her lips are pursed into a thin line. "Things have just been weird lately, it's nothing, "

Boscha pauses thoughtfully, breaking eye contact. Her cellphone vibrates inside her back pocket and she retrieves the device, maneuvering to stand behind the latina. 

Luz waits for Boscha to swipe over the cellphone and start chatting with someone- something she had consistently done whenever they accompanied one another- but Boscha merely stands there, looking off somewhere in the distance. 

Unfamiliar and confused with such a pensively contemplative Boscha and unsure what to say to break the silence, Luz awkwardly fiddles with a hangnail developing on her index finger. It doesn't help that a pair of customers laugh and chat as they exit the store, the male slinging an arm over their companions shoulder, knocking their foreheads together affectionately in a way that makes her heart pang in sadness. 

Suddenly, Boscha speaks up, "Is this about Amity?"

She sighs, shoulders slouching. "Yeah…"

Boscha nods, pocketing her cellphone. "Has something happened?" 

She lets out a sigh on impulse. "I… don't know. She's suddenly distant from me. We haven't spoken since dinner." something inside her stomach distracts her. Should she even be speaking with Boscha about this? Are they close enough to have such a personal discussion? She hadn't really thought of Boscha in the sense.

Boscha dons a look of uncharacteristic concern across her features, she crosses her arms and averts her eyes to study the thousands of cracks running along the pavement. "Look, I really don't wanna spill anything personal. It feels wrong to disrespect Amity's privacy like this," she starts, speaking in a manner that is completely forigen to the lantina and briefly befuddles her. "But her parents aren't exactly what you'd call ideal, ya know? It's hard for her and she isolates herself at times."

After a moment, Boscha sighs and finishes her sentence, "I think you should leave her be."

Luz deflates. 

She is doubtful of her ability to handle Amity's distancing in a healthy way and becomes overwhelmed for the need of guidance that Boscha could hopefully fulfill. 

Hopefully. 

"Though," Boscha says, parting her arms and taking a step towards Luz and bringing a hand to her shoulder. "I'm happy to help you in any way, well, regarding this problem." 

Boscha's kind yet firm grip on her shoulder is warm and the most encouraging gesture she could hope for in the moment. Gratitude wells up inside her chest and she smiles warmly, "Thank you, Boscha."

"Hey, don't mention it, " Boscha replies, her usual cheeky tone slipping into her words, "Now, where you wanna eat? Wingies?"

The lantia shakes her head, before, "What about Drifters Burgers? On one eighty Street?"

The red-haired girl smirks, toothy grin showing off her unusually sharp canines. "You, my friend, have good taste." 

Luz smiles, and for the first time this week, she forgets about her problems.


	16. LUZ NOCEDA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day. Luz acts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy.

Her body is plagued with such unusual anxiety that it makes her sick. 

Standing behind the counter, she mindlessly scrolls through her cellphone to distract herself from the crippling boredom, fatigue, and anxiety. Her fingers drum at the counter, falling into a rhythm of three taps with index finger and a single with her pointer. 

The shop took a noticeable drop in customers that evening, a patron creeping into the store and bringing some sort of distraction she so desperately needed. Her co-workers had drifted into the back room, unspokenly leaving her to manage the store and any potential customers. Even Mr. Belos locked himself in his office. She would’ve been annoyed any other day, but today she could barely muster the needed words to greet her boss and co-workers that afternoon.

There’s little reason to make herself busy; but she wish she hadn’t finished all her duties, at least that would’ve distracted her from Amity’s continued silence. 

She sighs, feeling herself coming sullen by that fact.

Scrolling through Twitter, she swipes over to the trending tab and looks over the various topics trending before frowning and closing the app. Everything on the trending tab is either painfully boring or horrifically terrible, anyways. 

Opening her messages, she stares at the number listed in her most recent, a blue faceless icon appearing besides it. It would be rude to send Amity a message when she hasn’t even read the one she sent almost a week prior. 

With Amity being excluded from her options, Luz scrolls down and taps the contact simply listed as Edric. Usually, she’d reach out to Augustus in such distressing times, but considering his limited knowledge of the situation and Amity as a person, he wouldn’t exactly be the best person to contact in this circumstance. 

Pressing on the white box and pulling up the keyboard, Luz begins typing out something more akin to a formal letter than a simple message, still not entirely comfortable typing with her usual ill grammar use of speaking. As politely as possible, she requests if Edric is knowledgeable of Amity’s behavior or, at the very least, if she is currently inside their home.

Strangely anxious, she taps the “send” button and pushes herself off the counter. No more after a minute after she tucked her cellphone away to assist a customer, it vibrates. Fishing for her device, she unlocks her phone and swipes through her messages, finding two messages from Edric. 

Edric is- and she should memorize this- the type of person to send a message before his thought is actually complete, each statement, exclamation, or question is it’s own entity. He also isn’t partial to punctuation and capitulation, sending messages that are sometimes a hassle to read. His message begins with ‘im not sure whats up with mittens but she’s home tho’ with two additional messages reading ‘why??? and ‘did something happen???’ 

While Luz is reading the messages, she peers over her shoulder to ensure that there aren’t any lingering eyes on her before averting her attention towards her cellphone, another message causally stating ‘is there anything I can do to help??’ 

She’s taken aback, so unused to such selflessness and kindness from relatively new friends. She replied with words of gratitude, reassuring him that he needn’t worry, making a promise to schedule a day for him and his siblings to play catch-up.

Truthfully, she dearly missed the twins’ larger-than-life attitude, not having seen them since Amity’s birthday party. Sometimes she has to remind herself that the twins are, very specifically, the Blight twins of YouTube with nine million subscribers. With their wealth and fame comes the advantage of choosing who exactly you interact with, and it would be very easy for the twins to outright ignore her in favor of someone of a higher status. Ignoring their wealth, glitz, and notoriety, Emira and Edric Blight were nothing but teenagers eager to assist their friends, family, and community in any way possible. 

The fact that they decided to welcome her into their household warmly and without judgement is something so forigen to her it nearly makes her tear up. 

Luz finds herself smiling despite the tightness pulling at her temples and quickly drags a hand over her eyes, wiping away any moisture. Though, with the information that even Edric had no clue as to why Amity had grown distant worried her greatly. Without thinking, she opens the message bar and quickly types a message out, reading:

‘I need a big favor.’

…

…

This is, undoubtedly, the stupidest idea she has ever conceived.

Taking a forty minute bus ride downtown to confront Amity about her distant attitude is the most reckless, selfish, idiotic thing she has ever done. 

And yet, she’s doing it, her decision powered entirely by heartache and sheer desperation. 

When messaging Edric, he and Emira constructed a plan in which Amity would be alone at home, for reasons unbeknownst to the green-haired-girl but clearly explained to the latina: Edric will convince his father to accompany him to car dealership while his mother is away on a business trip, then Emira will head to her girlfriend’s residence for an impromptu sleepover. Amity will be left to her own devices, leaving room for Luz to confront the girl without distractions or onlookers. Luz wonders how they contrived a plan in such little time. 

It is extremely unprecedented for her to arrive unannounced like this- even with the twin’ blessing- but she cannot think of any way to talk to someone who has suddenly dropped all communication with her within weeks of them becoming a couple. 

Is that what they were? She hadn’t thought of that.

Her stomach twists uncomfortably as she rounds the corner. Under her breath, she unconsciously mumbles the names of the streets in which leads to Amity’s home. Mind clouded by sadness, she chides herself for forgetting to ask the twins for directions towards their household. Even if she visited the household twice, it isn’t enough to commit to memory. 

As she walks deeper into the neighborhood, she prays that she’s following her memories of certain unremarkable landmarks she encountered her only visits correctly.

The wind is slightly warm, the temperature not helping the sweat building at her hairline. The surrounding area is eerily quiet, her heavy footsteps filing the silence, and her mind is miles away from these neighborhood intersections and their canopied streets certainly helps in keeping her distracted. 

Amity has infuriated her thoughts for so long.

And she wouldn’t have it any other way, were Amity to wish for their continued relationship. The only way to establish if that will happen after, it seems, to speak with her in person, to be able to see Amity’s face as Luz implores answers about her distance.

That opportunity has arrived, Luz realizes, as she stops in front of the rustic mansion driveway, not sure how she got there despite her limited knowledge of the surrounding area. 

Legs aching, she trudged down the stone pathway and stopped outside the front doors. Her stomach twists itself into knots as raps the front door several times, her hands coming together to fiddle with her hoodie drawstrings. 

The silence that washes over her as she waits is absolutely agonizing, the quietness settling on her shoulders so heavily that it makes her question her entire decision. 

Footsteps- light and gentle- approach the door and stop for several elongated moments, the curtains of the adjacent glass window pane shifting slight. Eventually, she hears the tumbling of the locket and comes face to face with a visibly surprised Amity, eyebrows raised and lips parted slightly. She opens her mouth to speak, but says nothing, but her face is contorted into plain disbelief.

Luz herself is just as speechless, chest overwhelmed and tightened with familiar, suffocating sensations filling the hollow cavity. Her mind was close to imploding from the stress and lack of communication, her lacking the knowledge of Amity’s parents, and the general atmosphere of the situation. She clenched her clammy hands at her sides. 

“Hello?” Amity says, nearly stammering on the first letter. The lantina observers the girl’s body language- her jaw tensed, shoulders hunched, posture stiff and fragile. 

“May I come in?” 

Taken further aback, Amity stares at her before hesitatingly swinging the door fully open, stepping aside to allow Luz entry. Luz does so, erratically wiping her hands against her pants in an effort to calm the anxiety threatening to burst out from her chest. Once Amity parts from the door handle, Luz softly shuts it behind her.

The house is so overwhelmingly silent it makes Luz’s ears ring. It’s very evident that her parents nor the twins aren’t home. Resisting the bubbling urge to spew her guts, Luz takes a deep breath and pushes herself to simply ask, “Why are you avoiding me?”

As if on reflex, she counters, “I’m not,” and the obviousness that Amity is lying to straight to her face is enough to bring Luz’s blood to a boil. 

She clutches her fist, her nails digging into the sofa meat of her palm. With her voice wavering, she gazed into her eyes and said, “Please, don’t lie to me.. you avoiding this is painful enough.” 

With those words, Amity’s entire demeanor shifts, eyebrows furrowed, ferocious scowl, hands balled into shaking fists. “How fucking dare you? Coming all this way just to attack me!” She growls, anger evident as her pale face flushes red. “What did you expect me to say?”

“Anything!” Her voice raises without realizing, feeling her own anger bubbling inside her chest. “All I want to know is what changed between you- between us!”

“So, that meant coming here, unannounced, when I wished to be alone?” Amity retorts, voice increasing in volume as well, and Luz feels herself getting more frustrated. Why couldn’t she just give her a clear answer?

“How else? Every message, every phone call has been ignored! Or at the very least, unresponded to.” Luz practically shouts, feeling as if the two of them are speaking different languages, both sides of the argument not connecting. “How can I figure how to help you if you won’t even speak to me?!”

Perhaps it was her overly emotional mind playing tricks with her, but she could’ve swore she saw guilt glint in Amity’s eyes. However, that glint is replaced with figurative flames as her frown deepens. “My life does not and cannot revolve around you and your, “ she gestures in Luz’s general direction. “Suffocating clinginess! And unlike you, I don’t cling to people that want no part with me!” 

Luz feels the air escape her lungs. The house falls still. Her skull feels like it’s caving into her brain.

What a terrible, idiotic idea.

She was never good at handling rejection.

Within moments, the maddening features warping Amity’s face falls, her eyebrows wide as she gasps lightly. Luz finds herself unable to move where she stands, and Amity is trying desperately to amend for what has been said. “Wait, that came out wrong, I-“

Luz feels the surrounding area spin and she absentmindedly grips the door handle to steady herself. Her stomach twists painfully again, and she feels warmth residing inside her temples.

Her eyes are burning.

Amity, still standing in shock, pleads for Luz to stay, to give her a moment, to just let her explain. Moving as if on autopilot, Luz turns her head slightly, her voice hardly above a whisper as she says, “I’m sorry for coming.” 

She makes sure to carefully shut the door behind herself. 

…

…

She wanders into a local park, finding the field and park tables strangely unoccupied. Luz tries to remember how she had gotten here, but all the comes to her is darkness, as if she was unconscious the moment she stepped outside the door until now. 

Walking towards a lone wooden bench, her legs give out and she falls backwards until her shoulder blades meet the rough surface, letting herself groan in discomfort at the action. 

For a while, she does nothing, watching a nearby squirrel scurry up a tree with an acorn lodged between it's jaws. 

Her vision goes blurry, and it is only when snot slides down her nostrils does she realize she is sobbing.


	17. EDRIC AND EMIRA BLIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins try and help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lads, this is it. Only two more chapters left. But I'll address this in the next chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy.

The silence that washes over the Noceda household is nothing short of deafening. The only sounds to interrupt the quietness are the rummaging of the washing machine as Luz folds blankets and towels and the whispers of cloth rubbing against the plastic towel basket as she gently stacks folded towels atop one another. 

She slowly keeps herself busy throughout the day, investing more time on repetitive tasks- including washing towels, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning bed-sheets, wiping tables- in a desperate attempt to distract her sullen mind and nagging anxiety. This strategy proves unsuccessful, eventually resorting to spending absurd amounts of time on simple tasks that should take a few minutes at best. 

She wants to so desperately curl beneath her bedsheets and sleep. The painful pang of rejection twisting her stomach into tighter knots, already distressed by the events of last week. What was once bubbling worry that filled her chest was replaced by a mournful ache that permeates every nook and cranny in her figure, and her nerve-racked mind seems determined to bring her back into such despair. The harrowing distress only grew when she stayed awake during the night, fully digesting the situation that happened the night before. She had to convince her mothers to take the day off school. 

A part of her wants to shout at the heavens about her overwhelming anxiety and rage towards this situation. A part of wants to tuck herself into a corner and bawl her eyes out. A part of her is unworldly embarrassed with herself even testing a romantic relationship.

She feels hallow. As if a vital piece of her has been stolen.

The next hour saw little improvement on her sullen disposition, and within the following hour, she decided to abandon her towel folding and instead retreat back into the kitchen to wash the counter-tops for the fifth time that evening. Crouching, she retrieves the cleaning spray from beneath the cabinet and gives the counter-tops a decent spew of the liquid. Before she could run her towel across the marble surface, three knocks sounded throughout the house, cutting through the thick silence unexpectedly. 

Sighing, she abandons her towel and paces through the living-space, swinging open the front door. Slightly startled, Luz looks up to find two faces she hadn’t expected to see. 

“Edric, Emira?” Luz says, immediately ducking her head and gazing at the hardwood floors. She could feel their gaze burrowing into her head, could feel how forced their smiles were. She didn’t have the heart to give them such an obviously fake grin. The twins, uncharacteristically grim, stare at the latina with sorrow and regret spread across their features. They are dressed comfortably, donning sweatpants and hoodies, with Edric wearing a blue snapback and Emira a beanie hat. Even behind their sleek sunglasses, the creases of worry besides their eyes proved noticeable. 

Luz, unbearably uncomfortable, fiddles with her hands and asks, “Is there anything in particular that you needed…?” 

Emira politely declines with a raised hand. “Are you free to sit down for a talk?” she says, punctuated by Edric nodding in agreement. 

An unsettling sense of uncertainty blankets over her body, making her stomach twist in anxiousness and her mind flair with angry. Though, she realizes that it'd be incredibly rude if she declined, presuming they traveled almost forty minutes to her household. Deciding she’d rather endure whatever emotional conversation awaits her, she nods hesitatingly. “Okay... we can do that.”

…

…

She’s determined to stay focused, but with the overwhelming awkwardness radiating from the twins and her body slowly sinking into the plush sofa cushions, it's becoming increasingly difficult. 

Though for what exactly, she isn’t quite sure, as neither she, Edric, or Emira have not spoken a single word since their waiter- a young man with short, messy hair, a monotone speaking manner, and a name tag reading “Matt” in plain merriweather- brought them their drinks. Edric occupies himself by fiddling with his utensil wrapped inside decorative napkins. Meanwhile, Emira is slowly stirring her beverage, eyes focused as the dark liquid swirlings into the creamy portion on top- Luz doesn’t recall what she had ordered, but believes it to be a cappuccino. 

Luz herself sits pensively with her glass of water cradled between her hands, her eyebrows furrowed and gaze directed towards the adjacent window, watching the occasional car or person pass down the otherwise vacant street. She refuses to meet eyes with the twins, but from the occasional glance, Luz could tell they were struck with deep concern and worry, even if their reasons for concern are universes apart when comparing. 

The food- from what she could smell- at this establishment smelled quite delicious as the aroma of cheese-loaded potatoes and sirloin steak filled the humble restaurant. She feels regretful that her appetite had been depleted for the past few days, otherwise she would've been interested in downing a greasy american meal. She’ll have to come back when she’s in higher spirits and occupied by someone. 

Taking a sip of her water, Luz turns her head to glance at the two people, Emira’s fidgeting fingers shifting in the corner of her vision. Her eyes become unfocused and she isn’t sure how long she’s staring at the smooth surface when Emira clears her throat.

“So, how are you?” Emira asks, still stirring her drink, the spoon clicking against the mug. 

She has not idea what to tell her. 

Luz is completely honest when she says, “Not good.”

She brings a hand up and runs it through her hair, not caring if it becomes mussed or straggled-looking from doing so, “I… haven’t had the best time lately. I haven’t really gotten anything done lately.”

Emira nods, shifting in her seat. “If it’s comforting, Amity is having the same problem.” 

It isn’t comforting. 

“Listen,” Emira implores, stopping her stirring and placing her spoon on a napkin. “She's such a private person that even we have trouble getting her to open up, but we have talked with her over the past week about this, about her feelings, about everything. And all we want- is to allow her some patience.” 

Luz stays silent, a painful lump forming in her throat. She makes an attempt at nodding but it comes across as a pitiful acceptance of failure more than anything else. 

“Amity is…” Edric falls quiet for a few moments, threading his fingers together and holding his hands atop the table. His drink sits abandoned, his ice already having begun melting and forming a layer of water atop his soda. He stares into her eyes with uncharacteristic seriousness. “Amity tries… really hard not to get close to people. If she does, she’ll pretend that she only thinks of you as an acquaintance.” 

She glances to Emira, a crooked smile forming on her lips, tilting her head slightly while Edric speaks. She’s seen that grin before, it appears any time someone catches themselves in a lengthy conversation and one of them recalls a distant memory, that kind of humored, nostalgic twitch of the lips that serves to remind them how old those memories were. 

Luz wishes such a smile was infectious. She could use the amusement at the moment. 

“Now, someone like Boscha?” Edric says, a slightly amused grin of his own tugging at his lips. “Amity would have you believe that she absolutely cannot stand Boscha and her... loud personality.” 

The pause and the appropriately large gestures he makes with his arms is enough to make Luz chuckle, and it is then she realizes just how joyless she’s been the past week. She hasn’t really laughed at all during the week. 

The twins seem to appreciate it too, their eyes softening and the faintest of laugh lines surrounding their lips. The humor spreading over their features quickly fades away; however, placed by a compassionate sadness. Then, Edric continues, “But I know she would do anything in her power to help her.” 

“She’s always been introverted and private, but our parents have always been quite harsh towards her... “ Emira interjects, brow furrowed and a saddened frown twisting her features. She stops for a moment, lips pursed and hands tapping the table surface. 

“It’s… a defense mechanism, her more standoffish attitude, It’s easier to push people away than be hurt again,” Emira finishes. She speaks with such forlorn insight that it makes a lump form in her throat. 

Luz, too, knows what it's like to bristle at the slightest hint of vulnerability on her part, having become hardened in the years following terrible teasing and bullying by peers. Even after she came to terms with such harassment, she was reluctant to speak to anyone outside of her mothers and would buried herself in editing and recording to the point where she simply didn’t have the energy to wonder how she had gotten herself into that position. Switching schools did very little to change this- because her first proper attempt at reaching out to new people is also the same reason she feels so distraught right now. 

It took some time to truly begin healing from such events, as well as a tremendous amount of patience and support from her mothers and the few acquaintances she had, she can empathize with shutting others off and becoming more introverted, but she cannot earnestly understand the despair that comes from having less than ideal parents. She’s grateful she has never had too.

It still hurts tremendously, however, having all communication dropped so abruptly. She wonders if she’d done anything specifically to warrant this, but she can’t disavow Amity’s decision to recede back into solitude after knowing what she’s been through. 

Still, Luz desperately wants to talk with her, to understand what she’s going through, but it seems like an insurmountable task right now, as if climbing a mountain without any of the required gear. 

A silence settles over the three of them, interrupted only by the sounds of idle chatter and clinking kitchen utensils. Luz downs the remainder of her water, shards of ice poking her windpipe as she swallows. The increasingly overwhelming need to apologize, to make amends for this entire situation, overrides her need for rest and closture. 

Luz lets out a heavy sigh through her nose, thumb running across the smooth surface of her glass. “I’m sorry for the favor I asked. I shouldn’t have asked.”

As if synchronizing, they both shake their heads in protest. “We shouldn't have organized such a plan. We're in the wrong, as well." Edric explains, gesturing with his hands as he speaks. 

As much as she doesn’t want to give up hope, emotionally supporting Amity is simply not something she can do at the moment. Luz, however, is a quite stubborn individual, and she is determined to hold every once of hope she could that the distance between them will someday close. Swallowing deeply, Luz admits, “I want to help her, if she is willing to have me.” 

“She is, I’m sure,” Emira says, taking a drink of her now lukewarm cappuccino. Her confident manner and her tone manages to lift her spirits by a small but notable margin. “She just… needs time. She’ll come, we promise.” 

With her new-found knowledge and understanding of the situation, Luz is more than willing to give Amity as much time as she needs. The space that has been left in her absence is largely significant for Luz to exactly put into words, and all she could respond to Edric and Emira is a simple, “Okay.” 

…

Luz hunches over, entering the backseat of the vehicle and swinging the door closed. She leans into the leather with a thankful sigh, feeling the familiar ache brought upon by sleep deprivation. Upon their insistence, Luz acquiesced to their paying for her beverage. Plain water is the cheapest drink she could have acquired, but she still feels sheepish for not paying the fine. 

Without missing a beat, Luz turns slightly in the twins’ direction and nods modestly, speaking with her head tilted down. “Thank you for the talk.” 

Edric lets out an amused huff, retrieving his keys from his pocket and twisting it into the holder. The car starts with a purr, the engine vibrating the vehicle slightly. “Glad we were able to help,” He starts, squeezing the steering-wheel and pulling out of the parking lot. 

The three of them fall into silence, the serious atmosphere dwindling into a more comfortable quietness. And as they drive down the vacant road, Luz feels just a little lighter than before.


	18. AMITY BLIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s a week later. Amity apologizes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s almost over.

Her attempts at work today proved to be certified failures, with her barely able to keep up with the post-lunch rush when the weather grew only marginally warmer. With both her and her co-workers loitering around the shop, she decided to excuse herself to the backroom and managed to slip into a restless slumber before being called back to manage the cash registers. 

It isn’t so much that she’s thinking of their argument- though she feels more and more childish thinking about it- it’s mostly the underlying anxiety and restlessness that’s been residing inside her chest for nearly an entire month. It is ever present inside ever cavity, every vein and bone inside her sternum that it feels like someone pounding sledgehammers against her rib cage with every inhale and exhale. 

Honestly, she really isn’t far off from her younger self, heartbroken over everyone preferring anyone but her. 

Frustrated and utterly defeated, Luz tucks the string bookmark between the pages and closes the hardcover book, the book landing with a muted thud as she tosses it onto the couch beside her. It’s the fourth Good Witch Azura book her mother had gifted her- she doesn’t remember how long ago anymore- and her particular favorite in the series. Before, she could read the entire four-hundred page novel within a few hours. Now, she’s struggling to pass the introduction of the title characters. 

She never would’ve guessed how horrible romance-induced pains were. 

Sighing, Luz leans forward and grabs her can of fruit-punch from the coffee table, the aluminum sweaty and lukewarm from neglect. She had forgotten it not so much out of deep focus on the contents of the book but rather due to her inability to register a single sentence without having to re-read it multiple times. The temptation to sleep herself into oblivion is intense- if only to forget her disheartening struggles for the moment- but she can’t let herself sleep away her issues, her social failures. 

Glancing at her cell-phone besides her, the digital clock displays ten-past-nine, so she’ll head upstairs to brush her teeth and crawl into bed shortly. If she wanted, she could deprive herself of sleep and instead force herself to watch several more episodes of the cheesy-new romance anime she found online. It sounds like torture, but it’s exactly what she’s been doing since this whole fiasco of insecurity-based angst started. She entertains the idea and wonders if she’s actually grown that misterble. 

Maybe. Maybe not. 

But that thought is idiotic and she scoffs at herself for taking any amount of pleasure from her own angst. She brings the can to her lips, taking a drink of the lukewarm and sugary fruit-punch. 

Several knocks hit the front door, the unexpected sound threatening to nearly choke her as she swallows her soft-drink. The swiftness that she pulls away causes a small splatter of fruit-punch to drabble down her chin and drip onto her t-shirt. She grumbles in annoyance, wiping her mouth and chin and placing the can back onto the coffee table. 

She stands from the sofa, eyebrows quirked in confusion. She’s unsure of who would arrive at her house at this hour when most would be readying themselves for slumber. Standing from the sofa, she approaches the front-door and finds her legs tingling with sleep- it’s only then she realizes how long she’d been lounging on the plush cushions. Twisting the locket, Luz tugs the door open and finds herself second-guessing her eyes as she stares at the person outside the door. 

Amity Blight, green-hair cascading down her shoulders and a small, paper-wrapped box in her hand, looks back at her with a soft and steady gaze. 

She doesn't know how to respond, her mouth opening and immediately shutting before heistantly before simply greeting with, “Hi.” 

In turn, Amity simply says, “Hello.” her voice feels unnatural in her ears. 

Neither of them speak for what seems like an eternity, Luz’s hand resting numbly on the door handle and Amity’s fingers gripping the corners of the box. The silence between the household and streetside is almost deafening aside from her heart drumming inside her eardrums. 

Strange, how she is finally in front of the girl she’s been aching to see for weeks, yet not a single intelligent thought is able to manifest inside her mind. Everything she wishes to say to the green-haired girl all vanish within moments of actually being face-to-face with her. 

Taking in a deep breath, Amity finally speaks up, a saddened smile lining her face as she timidly asks, “May I come inside?” 

Dumbfounded and partially numb, Luz nods and steps aside and opens the doorway fully, allowing the green-haired girl to enter. Amity enters gingerly, as if she was testing the proverbial waters of Luz’s household, holding the box close to her chest as she passes the house’s doorway. Luz closes the door behind her, gesturing towards the living-space and trying to ignore the gnawing inside her stomach. 

She doesn’t look Amity in the eye, but she can’t even stare at her neutral facial regions- her forehead, cheeks, nose- or even at her shoulders. Instead, she drifts her gaze onto her hands, watching as she tensely grips the box and holds it steadily to her abdomen. It’s small, though heavy enough to weigh down a person’s jacket pocket. Luz has no idea what it could be. They never officially declared what their relationship ship was, and her birthday wasn’t for a few months, so if it’s an anniversary gift, it’s extremely unprecedented. 

It is highly presumptuous of her to assume that it’s even meant for her, yet the box’s presence sticks out as a sore thumb for her. It is clearly important if Amity was willing to bring it with her and present it in such an outward way. 

If it is for her, then it must be an apology of some sort, though Luz never anticipated Amity’s means of reconciling through gift-giving. Amity seems like the type of individual to express her gratitude and fondness by service, but considering her fame and status, buying gifts to rekindle relationships doesn’t seem too far-fetched. But maybe she’s reading this completely wrong. 

Maybe she’s been reading everything wrong this entire time. 

Several wildly uncomfortable moments later, Amity finally speaks up, holding the box out to Luz, “I have been wanting to give this to you,” she simply states, foot lightly bouncing in anxiousness. 

Luz hesitates as she reaches for it, tentatively looking up to meet Amity’s eyes as she gingerly takes the gift from it's underside. Her fingertips lightly brush against Amity’s hands, the contact makes her heart beat faster. The latina circles around to the sofa, Amity following shortly behind. 

They settle wordlessly on the sofa, Amity grabbing the abandoned book from the seat and placing it atop the coffee table. Luz tucks her leg underneath her thigh, propping the box between her legs. Amity sits beside her, close enough for Luz to feel the other’s body heat radiate onto her bare arms. 

She stares at the wrapping paper, glittering swirls of flowers and snowflakes atop a pastel blue base. It looks to be Christmas wrapping-paper- highly likely, in fact. Something about it makes warmth spread over her heart and nearly makes her giggle. Why would she be using something from December when Halloween has yet to pass? 

It's quite beautiful wrapping, too, so Luz is careful when she opens the box to ensure it remains mostly intact. Lowly, Amity says, “Keep it upright.” Luz follows her guidance and resigns to ripping the paper beneath the box blindly. She peels back the paper to reveal a plain cardboard box, it’s white flaps held together by a piece of tape- for easier packaging, she presumes- and obscuring what lay inside. Removing the tap and opening it's flaps, she finds a note folded neatly into the box. 

Something shifts inside the box. She removes the note and finds something unexpected. 

Inside sits a ring. Brilliant blues and stark blacks interrupted by webs of gold, as if the jewel had been shattered and mended back together. As she reaches for the ring, Luz feels many things- awe, confusion, bewilderment- but mostly all she can feel is the overwhelming wave of love washing over her. 

“How did…” Luz asks, so enraptured by the beauty and compassion of the gesture to even speak. She looks at her, Amity- her face is so, so close- and tries again. “How did you get this?”

“I made it myself,” Amity says, her hands resting in her lap and eyes glued to the floor. She doesn’t know what to expect written inside the folded paper, but it makes her heart flutter in anticipation. Carefully, she unfolds the paper and starts reading the incredibly neat words written on the loose-leaf. 

'Dear Luz,

I don’t think I’m capable of describing how I feel about you in words. It was never my strong-suit. But I’m hoping this letter can do my both you and my feelings justice.

I never once thought that finding someone that loved me was possible. At a young age, I knew I was unlike those around me, and the thought of me living my life without a romantic partner scared me. I held hope for years that I would eventually find someone that would accept me for my imperfections and way of life. I dated before, and none of them made me the happiest I believe I truly could’ve been.

My studies and eventually fame halted these hopes, and I gave up for many years, not pursuing anything form of social interaction outside of the few friends I had. I focused on my channel and my family. And then, with the help of a dear friend

I met you.

You maintain a strong outlook on life and I admired your desire to be the best you can be. You smiled around me and made jokes and you made me so nervous… and for no reason. It was the fact that the most admirable and beautiful girl I had ever seen was willing to give me a chance at a relationship… I have never been at peace with myself.'

Luz is compelled to make some form of joke about her flowery prose and praising of herself. Yet, she finds herself unable to do so, the air around them becoming dense and the lump in her throat growing larger. She gives a quick glance towards Amity’s direction before diving back into the note. 

‘But, I was insecure. I was terrified of losing you and facing the inevitable rejection that would come. I didn’t believe I could pull off this relationship, so I shut down. I shut you down. I was deathly afraid of ruining everything I worked so hard to get, but throughout this entire ordeal, I never considered your feelings about this. 

I had no right to scream at you, to talk to you in such a manner, to make you feel this way. It was entirely out of the way and completely unnecessary. I deeply regret the pain I caused and I don't know how to amend for what I’ve done. But please understand this: I want you around. I want to be with you so so much. I love you, Luz Noceda.’ 

To her, it feels like Amity delved her hands directly into her chest and stitched the wounds left on her heart, casualties endured from the harrowing distress that she received from the uncertainty of their relationship. 

She gently folds the note, bringing the paper to her chest and sighing deeply before placing it back onto the coffee table. “Thank you,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “This means the world to me.”

Amity gives the briefest of glances before dropping her gaze once more, “It’s no problem,” she murmurs, sighing heavily while her shoulders slouch, as if a huge weight was lifted off her chest. She fiddles with her fingers, lips twitching as if she wanted to speak once more.

Luz gives her as much time as she needs, sinking into the sofa and resting her hands in her lap. She’s already waited for what feels like an eternity, what’s a few minutes amongst weeks of waiting?

She watches as Amity twists her fingers around one another, rubbing her knuckles against the soft skin of her palm. She takes in her features, how her green locks flow down her shoulders, how her eyelashes bat with each blink. She doesn’t stare for too long, not wanting to add to the visibly pressure weighing the girl down.

The word clinginess sounds in her mind. Boundaries, she thinks to herself. No matter the circumstances- it was ignorant and selfish to ignore it, regardless of how exaggerated Amity’s words were during the heated argument. 

She isn’t keeping track of the time as they sit there, settling into the plush sofa, Amity so close yet so distant. Suddenly, Amity stops her fiddling and shifts her body towards Luz, their kneecaps touching, “I’m… awful with words,” she admits, her statement punctuated by a soft chuckle. Without hesitation, she leans forward and brings her lips to Luz’s. Their lips meet easily, naturally, as if they’ve practiced the motion hundreds of times. 

Almost immediately, Luz returns the kiss, letting her eyes flutter close as she wraps her arms around the other’s waist, pulling them closer. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t thrilled that Amity took the initiative for the first time, she’d also be lying if she said she hadn’t noticed she had taken the lead on almost everything they did. The only thing Amity really did first was invite her to her birthday party, but maybe Luz should have noticed that pattern sooner, should have paid more attention to Amity's reluctance about opening up to her. Maybe she could have avoided this entire argument if she had just stepped back and asked Amity what she wanted from this relationship- perhaps she could have avoided all of this heartache if Luz had understood the signs rather than pretending they weren’t present at all. 

Parting from the kiss, Luz rests her head against Amity’s shoulders, basking in the scent of expensive perfume and fresh linen detergent on her clothes. She hadn’t realized how much she missed this. 

For a moment, neither of them move, soaking in the moment. Amity shifts and Luz pills her head away, reaching as Amity reaches for her hands and brings them to her breastbone, intertwining her fingers with Luz, who immediately returns the gesture. Golden eyes met her own hazel ones and Luz feels tears threatening to burst forth. 

Amity rubs her thumb along the latinas knuckles, slighting tightening her grasp. “I was… afraid,” She begins, voice low and soft. “Being around you was fun yet terrifying.” 

Luz doesn’t speak. Sometimes, it’s best to say nothing.

Amity sighs, tucking a loose strand of her behind her ear. “These were feelings I haven’t experienced before. I thought I could never find someone, but then I found you… and that scared me.” 

“I should have come to you, told you what I had been thinking instead of distancing myself from you,” Amity says, a self-deprecating scowl twisting her features. “I shouldn’t have said the things I did. I wish I hadn’t.”

A pause between the two. Luz stares into Amity’s eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” Amity says, voice shaky. “There is nothing else I can say to you other than I’m sorry.”

Her eyes are, once again, burning.

Luz raises her hand and gingerly cups Amity’s cheek. Her voice is thick, the tightness in her throat making it difficult to speak, but she manages and says, “I forgive you.” 

Amity let’s out a sound that’s caught between a relieved sigh and a surprised laugh, gingerly removing the Latina’s hands and ducking her head. She has that same unreadable expression- one she always donned when nervous, Luz observed over time. She watches as the girl shifts her body forward, and a small knot suddenly forms on her forehead as she speaks, “Why?”

Luz raised an eyebrow,”’Why?’”

Amity returns her gaze to Luz, shoulders slouched and hands restlessly tapping her thighs. If anything, the crease between her eyebrows grew deeper and a frown stretches her lips. “it just- you barely hesitated when I…” she stammers, fidgeting with her hands and leaving her sentence unfinished. 

Luz looks at her, unsure of the expression she wears. Whatever the grimace lining her eyebrows says of her, Amity elaborates quickly. “I don’t understand how you’ve forgive men so easily. After what I’ve done, i   
just, I dunno- expected you to be more resentful.”

She sighs before she can stop herself. Truthfully, she doesn’t understand herself why she accepted this apology. A part of her feels she should be rightfully angry, she should be bitter and resentful towards Amity for causing so much distress and depression- but she couldn’t bring herself to hold such a grudge over pointless arguments and petty insults. Amity had opened her heart, if only for a few minutes, to gnaw at the tender wounds and scars surrounding her heart. She isn’t entirely sure as to why she’s feeling this way- but the painful twisting inside her stomach certainly alludes to it. 

She was afraid. 

“I’m not sure…” The hardest part is knowing where to begin. She tries again, clearing her throat as she sinks into the sofa to relax her stiffened muscles. “I haven’t had many friends in life- I was always treated as an outsider, someone to go to if you needed something done and that’s it.”

Amity listens quietly, her gaze is intense, though for reasons Luz isn’t quite used to. It’s the appearance of someone understanding, concerned, and empathetic. It silently surprises her and she hopes her surprise isn’t leaking onto her face.

“Anytime someone asked me out, it was to gross out or annoy their friends,” She laughs, the sound more bitter than she would like. “They treated me like I was a freak, some weirdo. I never could hold onto anyone for long” 

The more she talks, the more it becomes clear that not discussing her incidents of bullying had worn her down. She entertains the idea of a counselor, however, she’d have to address her parents about the matter. 

She opens her mouth and struggles to find the words, before simply settling on, “I was afraid of losing you.” to quickly end this painful and bleak conversation.

The slience that washes over them is certainly something.

It takes some time before a single world arises from the two, but Amity is the first to fill the quietness. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pressured you.” 

“No,” Luz interrupts, quick to object. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. It’s something I wanted to talk to you about; it was just never the right moment.” She ducks her head, her fingers tracing over the stitchings of her jeans. She exprenices a brief wave of nostalgia, this reminding her of her conversation with Augustus earlier that month. 

Tentatively, Amity raises a hand and rests it atop of Luz’s, pausing in her sulking. “Thank you for telling me.”

Something inside her breaks. 

Before she could stop herself, tears pool inside her eyes and pour down her cheekbones and chin. When Amity lifts her head, the girl panics, raising her hands to wipe away the hot tears traveling down Luz’s face. Luz, however, she grins, chuckling at her gesture and kindness. She can’t stop herself from hiccuping, and she could feel snot building inside her nostrils. She alway had a rather messy cry. 

As Amity runs a thumb along her cheekbone, Luz calms herself down and a blur of words thoughtlessly escapes her mouth, “I’m sorry for my clinginess, but you’re all I can think of now,” she chuckles, the sound coming out more of a hiccup than anything else, “No matter what I’m doing, my mind always manages to drift back to you.”

Amity’s fingers still rest upon her cheekbones, and she unconsciously runs a thumb below her eyes. Her expression is unreadable, difficult, the only thing Luz can take from it is utter surprise. 

“I want nothing more than to be with you- for you to feel comfortable with this relationship.” Luz says, a fresh wave of tears threatening to burst forth. “I want you, Amity Blight.” 

Her heart is overwhelmed with love and gratitude that she nearly malfunctions when Amity brings her into another kiss. Caught in the sudden embrace, Luz fumbles before gripping onto her shirt and pushing herself deeper into the kiss. It’s much more clumsier this time, their mouths crashing into one another in a desperate attempt to become closer, to finally resolve this unneeded tension. Amity parts briefly for air and huffs hot air into Luz’s chin. Luz opens her eyes slightly when the green-haired girl runs a thumb over her chin. 

She abides by her will, opening her mouth and easily allowing Amity’s tongue to slip inside, the sensation sending shivers down her spine. It’s new, it’s terrifying, it feels thrilling. Her tanned hands let go of the abused shirt, snaking her hands down the fabric and allowing her hands to rest at her sides. A heat that could only be described as sharp shoots through her groin, and she wonders how far this was going to go. Christ. 

After a moment, they pull away, their lips parting with an audible smacking sound. Amity’s breathing is labored and heavy, the dark flush on her cheeks are a sharp contrast to her pale skin. Luz is certain she looks any better. Tiredly, Luz rests her head against Amity’s chest, listening to the girl’s thrumming heart as she tightens her holds around her waist. 

“I want to be with you, Luz.” 

Luz finally lifts her head, the words filling her heart with eternal glee. Without hesitating, she simply says, “I want to be with you, too.”


	19. NOCEDA AND BLIGHT

Most days, she wakes up alone, her blaring alarm interrupting whatever banal dream she was in the midst of having. Some of this days, she’d endured yet another dream where she accidentally forgets her backpack at home or even the nightmare of publicly humiliating herself once more. Depression- and the loneliness that clings onto it- has a way of depriving herself from others. 

But today, she isn’t woken by a pestering alarm, but rather something caressing her hair gently and leaving a soft peck on her forehead.

On these rare days, she shares her bed with someone else. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of this.

Slowly, she opens her eyes and is met with Amity, green hair pooling over the pillowcase and cascading down her neck and shoulders. A soft smile appears on her lips, stretching lazily as she runs her fingers through Luz’s short, brown hair.

Luz reaches out, pulling her hand from beneath the blankets and laying it over Amity’s waist. She pulls her in, hips flushing against each other. “Good morning,” she says, voice gravelly and scratchy from sleep. 

Amity leans in for a kiss, their lips meeting with a simple peck. She loves how warm Amity feels wrapped around her, how soft her skin feels, how natural it feels to have her besides her. She wishes that I’ll stay this way forever.

When they part, Amity’s smile grows and Luz finds her own smile doing the same.

“Good morning, love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After two months and over thirty-thousand words, I still don’t know what to say.
> 
> This has been an incredible journey from start to finish. Every chapter I’ve written, every character I introduced, every single word I’ve put onto this site has come from the bottom of my heart. I loved writing every chapter and especially loved reading your comments. This story couldn’t have been completed with your support. Thank you all. Truly, I mean it.
> 
> I’m On Cloud Nine (Up like zero gravity) has officially ended. I was an amazing run. I will be writing more stories soon, and hopefully you all read and enjoy them lol.
> 
> See you everyone, and thanks again for reading!
> 
> -Nat.


End file.
